Minecraft 1.20 snapshot 23w18a patch notes: New advancement, bug fixes, and more

The latest Minecraft 1.20 snapshot has been released. Ahead of the full release of the Trails & Tales update (scheduled for this year), Mojang has sent out another semi-weekly update to the game, including a new advancement, bug fixes, and other test features. For Java Edition, this is an excellent way to test out what the new update will look like in the future. Here is what you need to know about the release.

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Snapshot 23w18a here for Minecraft Java Edition

The main change in the latest Minecraft snapshot is the new advancement, The Power of Books. To accomplish this, players must read the power signal of a Chiseled Bookshelf using a Comparator.

Another recent advancement was Smithing with Style. This requires crafters to put the Spire, Rib, Snout, Wayfinder, Ward, Silence, Vex, and Tide smithing templates on their armor at least once.

There were several important bug fixes, too:

• Slime/magma cubes are again affected by the jump boost potion
• Hitbox for Sniffers, when they are lying down, has been corrected
• Clocks no longer flicker when enchanted in another dimension
• Bundle tooltips show their interface now
• Sniffers will stop digging after their target block is broken
• The names of new advancements are now properly capitalized
• Mojang fixed an issue with lag when moving above a cleared area with an exposed void

Chiseled bookshelves are the subject of a new advancement (Image via Mojang)

Fortunately, snapshots aren't all that difficult to enable. Remember that this is not how to get Bedrock Betas and Previews. Follow these steps:

1. Open Minecraft Java Edition Launcher on the computer you want to play on. You must have purchased Java Edition to do this.
2. Navigate to the Installations tab. This is within the Launcher.
3. There, you will find the option to enable snapshots. Enable the latest one that was released, which should be version 23w18a.
4. Head back to the "Play" tab from the Java Edition Launcher.
5. Start a new world from there. It will be on the newest version. Old worlds will be on whatever version the game was since the snapshot can't be applied to any old worlds after installation.

Each time Mojang releases a new snapshot, this step-by-step guide can be repeated. You can also go back to the Installations tab to turn off snapshots and resume playing the full version of the game.

Check out the official Minecraft Reddit to see the full list of notes, as the website is currently down.