Game Menu

The game menu or pause menu is one of Minecraft's multiple menu screens. Activated during gameplay, it provides a portal to configure game options, quit out of a world, and more. This menu can be accessed anytime (when not in a GUI) by pausing the game with the Esc key.

The game completely freezes when the game menu is opened in singleplayer. In Bedrock Edition, a setting to disable pausing in singleplayer is available, and enabled by default.^[1] The game is not paused in Minecraft Education, but singleplayer and multiplayer worlds can be paused when connected to the companion app Classroom Mode For Minecraft.

The game menu appears as an overlay with a gray section on the left containing the game's logo and some buttons. A message shows when the game is paused. On the right side, an animated player doll is shown with the player's skin and name tag, with a button to open the dressing room and the social drawer.

Option	Description
	Closes the game menu and allows the player to continue playing Minecraft.
	Opens Realms Stories, only available when playing in a Realm. On the top-right of this button, the amount of unread posts is shown. Shown as the second button on the bottom in beta or Preview.
	Opens the Marketplace. Shown as the second/third button on the bottom in beta or Preview.
	Opens the feedback site. This is only available in beta or Preview, and replaces the Browse Add-ons! button.
	Opens the settings menu, which allows the player to configure controls, difficulty, sounds, and more. Some world options can also be changed from this menu.
	Saves the game's progress and goes back to the previously opened menu screen.
	Opens the achievements page, where all locked, completed, and in progress achievements can be seen as well as rewards.
	​[upcoming BE 26.10] Opens the How to Play guide, where basic information about gameplay is explained.
	Screenshots the current in-game perspective. This feature is only available for signed in players.
	Allows the player to change their skin and access the character creator.
	Opens the Ore UI social drawer, with a list of players in the world, and friends. The number shows the amount of online friends.

Similar to the social drawer in the play and profile screen, this shows a list of all online and offline in-game friends. At the top of the list, all players currently in the world are shown. Each player button shows their activity below the gamertag, and can be pressed to open their profile. The button on the right can be used to manage some options for the player. At the top of the social drawer, there are buttons to invite friends to the world or manage player permissions.

After the release of parties,​^[upcoming] the social drawer is organized in three tabs. A "Search for people" bar above opens the "Search for players" screen, where new friends can be added. The "World" tab shows exactly the same features as the old social drawer. The "People" tab shows the same features as the social drawer in the game menus (without players currently in the world), and the "Party" tab shows players currently in the party, with some options, or a button to create a party.

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

 

It is possible for servers and data packs to add a button to the game menu. In that case, the "Report Bugs" and "Give Feedback" buttons are moved into a sub-screen, accessible by "Feedback..." button.

Dialogs can be added to the pause screen by adding them to the #minecraft:pause_screen_additions tag. If more than one dialog is added, a "Custom Options..." button is shown that leads to a sub-screen listing all dialogs.

Server operators can provide server links to their website, forums, bug tracker, feedback site, and more. They are shown using the minecraft:server_links dialog. This dialog is automatically added to the #minecraft:pause_screen_additions tag when that tag is empty otherwise and the server specifies server links.

Each of the server links is customizable: built-in server links have predefined labels, while custom server links allow custom labels using text component format. Operators can set custom links for their built-in and custom server links.

There are ten built-in server links that operators can use:

Server links can only be specified through custom server-sent packets to the client. The vanilla server software does not provide any settings nor utilities for this, and thus cannot be configured without modifications to the software or third-party utilities. The server.properties also provides no settings for server links.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

This article would benefit from the addition of more images.

 

Please remove this notice once you have added suitable images to the article.
The specific instructions are: Comparison of button texture scaling before and after 23w31a.

Java Edition Classic
0.0.13a							Added the pause menu, which, like today, could be opened by pressing Esc.
0.0.13a_03							Added "Game menu" title.
0.0.14a							Changed "Generate new level" to "Generate new level..." button.
?							The "Generate new level...", "Save level.." and "Load level.." buttons are unclickable and a different color on a server.
0.0.23a							Added "Options..." button.
							Menu buttons now have a stone like texture.
Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100206-1437				Pause menu now stops the game.
Java Edition Infdev
20100327							Added "Change world..." and "Quit game" buttons.
							Removed "Generate new level...", "Save level..", and "Load level.." buttons.
20100608							Changed background overlay.
20100624							Changed "Quit game" to "Save and quit to title.." button and background overlay.
							Removed "Change world..." button.
20100629							Moved buttons closer to center and swapped "Back to game" and "Options..." buttons.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.9							The background overlay has now been darker.
v1.0.12							Changed "Save and quit to title.." to "Save and quit to title".
Java Edition Beta
1.5							Added "Achievements" and "Statistics" buttons.
Java Edition
1.1			11w49a				Changed "Back to game" to "Back to Game" and "Save and quit to title" to "Save and Quit to Title" buttons.
1.3.1			12w18a				The "Saving level..." text no longer appears in the pause menu among several other features broken by this version.[check the code]
			12w25a				Added "Open to LAN" button.
1.11			16w38a				Capitalized "Game menu" to "Game Menu" title.
1.12			17w13a				Changed "Achievements" to "Advancements" button.
1.14			18w43a				Added the "Give Feedback" and "Report Bugs" buttons.
1.19.1			22w24a				Added a "Player Reporting" button, which is only visible while on a server.
1.19.3			22w43a				Moved down title and buttons.
			pre1				Reverted 22w43a changes.
1.20.2			23w31a				Buttons now use a proper nine-slice system.​[more information needed] The appearance of the buttons has now slightly changed.[4]
1.20.5			24w09a				The overlaid background is now less dark and is handled as a texture file that can be configured via resource packs.
							A configurable box blur effect is now applied to the game while paused.
			24w11a				A linear blur is now applied to the game while paused.
1.21			24w21a				Added server links button and menu.
1.21.6			25w20a				Music now plays when the game is paused.
							Data packs can request some of the available dialogs to be accessible from Pause screen. This feature replaces the "Server Links" button and is placed on Pause screen according to the same rules.
			pre3				The button clicking sound is now controlled by the "UI" source.

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0							Added the pause menu.
v0.1.2							The pause menu now allows users to switch to third person view and disable sound.
v0.7.0							The pause menu has been redesigned.
							Switching to third person view and changing sound volume is now done via the Options menu.
							Removed ability to change server visibility.
v0.7.2							Added list of players to the pause menu.
v0.15.0			build 1				Added Achievements button to pause menu.
v0.16.0			build 1				The pause menu has been redesigned.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0			beta 1.2.0.2				Player permissions are configurable in the pause menu.
1.9.0			beta 1.9.0.2				Added "Feedback" button to the pause menu.
1.13.0			beta 1.13.0.15				Replaced the hanger button with a "Profile" button.
1.17.30			beta 1.17.30.20				The feedback button now appears at the down left as an icon.
							The options, achievements, or invite button now appear beside the feedback button.
			beta 1.17.30.22				The "Profile" button menu to Character Creator has been renamed to "Dressing Room".
1.21.30			Preview 1.21.30.23				Added a button to the pause menu that takes a screenshot.
1.21.60			Preview 1.21.60.21				The game now completely freezes when the pause menu is opened in single player. This feature can be turned on/off from the settings in the general section. This feature, however, is only available in betas and previews.[1]
1.21.70							The game now completely freezes when the pause menu is opened in single player. No longer exclusive to betas and previews. This feature is not present on Nintendo Switch.
1.21.111			Preview 1.21.110.25				Removed the player list, permissions, and "Invite to Game" button and renamed the "Friends" button to "Social", which opens an updated player list with new buttons to open the player permissions screen, view each player's permissions, invite players, and manage some options for a player. This change only affects Minecraft Preview.
1.21.120			Preview 1.21.120.21				Redesigned the pause menu with some buttons moved to the bottom with icons, and a larger player skin.
26.0			Preview 26.0.25				The Settings button has been changed back into being a text button, and the pause notice has been moved to the top-right.
							The social drawer has been updated and is now separated into three tabs, one for the old pause menu drawer, one for the main menu drawer, and one for the new party system.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
26.10			Preview 26.10.23				Added a Beta Feedback button in Preview and betas, which opens the feedback site. This replaces the Browse Add-ons! button, which has been moved to the small buttons below.
							The small buttons now show a tooltip similar to hotbar tooltips on hover.
			Preview 26.10.24				Added a button opening the How to Play guide to the game menu.

Issues relating to "Game Menu" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

• 
  0.0.22a 05
• 
  Infdev 20100629
• 
  11w49a
• 
  12w25a
• 
  22w24a

• 
  v0.7.2
• 
  v0.16.0 alpha build 1 - 1.1.5

• 
  1.2.0.2 - 1.13.0.13
• 
  1.17.30.20 - 1.17.30.21
• 
  Before 1.21.120
• 
  The new player list in the old game menu in Preview only, from 1.21.110.25 - 1.21.120.20.
• 
  The game menu in demo mode
• 
  Before 26.0

• 
  An example of a game being paused.
• 
  A creeper in the game menu mid-ignition.

• Options
• Settings
• Menu screen
• Ore UI, the Bedrock Edition UI refresh