How to use coordinates in Minecraft

Coordinates in Minecraft are very helpful to getting around and not getting lost.(Image via Mojang)
Coordinates in Minecraft are very helpful to getting around and not getting lost.(Image via Mojang)

It is incredibly easy to get lost in Minecraft. There are often landmarks that can help, but players are usually so far away from home that it can be entirely impossible to get back.

Knowing which direction they came from is helpful, but it's also improbable that players will remember that and that they never deviated from the straight line they initially walked on. That's where the coordinates come into play.

Coordinates are the best way to know where players are and where they need to go in Minecraft. They can be tricky to turn on for a realm, but they're more than worth the effort. Here's how to use coordinates.


Using coordinates in Minecraft

Coordinates in Minecraft are found under the cheats section of the world settings. While they're found in that section, they're not actual cheats and won't disable achievements. It's trickier for realms, and it will disable achievements if not done the correct way.

In order to turn the coordinates on, which is recommended for all worlds, players can navigate to the world settings. This can be done either before or after world creation. Once they're turned on, they can be toggled on or off whenever and it won't affect anything.

For realms, if a player goes to try and turn on coordinates, it will disable achievements, but there is a way to avoid this. In order to get coordinates turned on, they need to find the world they want to use for their realm. If it's just going to be a random one, then it can be created from scratch.

Coordinates in Minecraft can be any random combination of numbers. (Image via Mojang)
Coordinates in Minecraft can be any random combination of numbers. (Image via Mojang)

After creating the world, players should ensure that coordinates are toggled on. Then they can exit the world and go back to starting their new realm world. In there, they can use the original world they just made with coordinates (it may be helpful to name it something) as the source world for the realm.

This will create a realm with both coordinates and achievements enabled, so players won't get lost or confused when traveling in it.