How to turn on coordinates in Minecraft

Aakrit Sharma
Minecraft coordinates

Minecraft has a massive world with several biomes and caves where you can easily be going around in circles. This is where coordinates can be a huge help, and here’s how to turn on coordinates in Minecraft.

One of the best things about Minecraft is its open world. From desert to rainforests to mushroom fields, players can explore countless areas and still not get bored.

The sandbox game has a map system but it is not efficient enough to guide you to your base and other important landmarks. Accordingly, the only mechanic that can help you in navigation (except beacons) is coordinates.

Hence, here’s a guide on coordinates in Minecraft and how to turn them on.

How to see your coordinates in Minecraft

Coordinates displayed on debug screen in Minecraft Java edition

In Minecraft Java edition, you can check your coordinates by pressing the F3 key. This opens the debug menu which displays the X, Y, and Z coordinates on the left side of the screen.

In Minecraft Bedrock edition, you have to follow these steps to activate coordinates:

  1. Go to Setting and head to the Game section.
  2. Enable the Show Coordinates option located on the right side of the screen.

In the Bedrock edition, there’s also a setting to enable coordinates in a server. To do so, the admin needs to type /gamerule showcoordinates true in the chat window. This is one of the many console commands that help in activating features.

Coordinates in Minecraft Bedrock edition

How to read coordinates in Minecraft

There are three coordinates in Minecraft – X, Y, and Z. Each coordinate tells the distance of the player from their original spawn point differently:

  • East – X (positive value)
  • West – X (negative value)
  • Altitude above the origin – Y (positive value)
  • Depth below the origin – Y (negative value)
  • South – Z (positive value)
  • North – Z (negative value)

For instance, 33, -67, and 45 coordinates in Minecraft mean that the player is 33 blocks east, 67 blocks below, and 45 blocks south from the origin point. Knowledge of coordinates can be very beneficial during exploration as well as teleporting.


This was everything you need to know about coordinates in Minecraft. For similar content, make sure to check out how to make a campfire in Minecraft, the best sword enchantments, and how to make an iron golem.

Image Credits: Mojang

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About The Author

Aakrit is a games writer with over 2000 published articles for EssentiallySports, Sportskeeda, FortniteINTEL, and CharlieINTEL. Currently, he writes guides on Minecraft, Roblox, Pokemon games, Genshin Impact, and Brawlhalla. Aakrit loves playing shooter games and in his free time, you can find him queued up in Valorant, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or Halo Infinite. You can contact Aakrit at [email protected].