How to Use a Hopper in Minecraft

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: October 18, 2020 Tested

This article teaches you how to create and use a hopper in Minecraft. Hoppers funnel items placed in them into other storage units, such as a chest or a furnace. You can create a hopper in all versions of Minecraft, including the desktop, pocket, and console editions.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Crafting a Hopper

1
Gather the necessary building materials. In order to craft a hopper, you will need the following items:
- 5 iron ore - Iron ore is grey rock with orange/peach spots on it, most commonly found in caves or cliff faces. You will need at least a stone pickaxe to mine iron.
- 2 wood blocks - Chop two blocks of literally any wood from a tree in Minecraft. This will yield eight wooden planks, which will allow you to make one chest.
- A fuel source - You can use coal, which is found by mining the grey rock with black spots on it, or you can use wood planks.
- A furnace - Furnaces are crafted using eight blocks of cobblestone around the border of a crafting table.
- A crafting table - Crafting tables are created using a two-by-two grid of wood planks in your inventory's "Crafting" section.
2
Turn your wood blocks into planks. Open your inventory, place the wood blocks in one square of the "Crafting" section, and click and drag the resulting planks into your inventory.
- In Minecraft PE, tap ⋯, tap the crafting table icon, tap the wood planks icon, and tap 4 x twice.
- In Minecraft for consoles, press X (Xbox) or square (PlayStation), scroll down to select the correct wood type, and press A or X twice.
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3
Smelt your iron. Right-click your furnace to open it, drag your fuel source into the bottom box, and drag your iron ore into the top box. Your furnace will begin creating iron bars.
- In Minecraft PE, tap the bottom box, tap your fuel source, tap the top box, and tap the iron ore.
- In Minecraft for consoles, select your icon and press Y or triangle, then select your fuel and press Y or triangle.
4
Create a chest. Open your crafting table, place one wood block in each box of the grid except for the center one, and then drag the chest into your inventory.
- In Minecraft PE, tap the chest icon and then tap 1 x.
- In Minecraft for consoles, scroll over to the chest icon and press A or X.
5
Retrieve your iron bars. Open the furnace and drag the iron bars from the far-right box into your inventory.
- In Minecraft PE, open the furnace and tap the iron bars icon on the far-right side.
- In Minecraft for consoles, select the furnace, select the iron bars icon, and press Y or triangle.
6
Re-open the crafting table. Now that you have all of the necessary ingredients, you're ready to create your hopper.
7
Create the hopper. Place an iron block in the top-left, middle-left, top-right, middle-right, and bottom-middle boxes in the crafting grid, then place the chest in the center box of the grid. Drag the completed hopper from your crafting table into your inventory to complete the building process. Now that you have a hopper, you can begin setting it up.
- In Minecraft PE, tap the cone-shaped hopper icon, then tap 1 x.
- In Minecraft for consoles, scroll over to the "Mechanisms" tab, then select the cone-shaped hopper icon and press A or X.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using the Hopper

1
Place a scaffold for the hopper. You'll want to place the hopper at least one block above the ground, so place a block of dirt on the ground where you want to put the hopper.
2
Place the hopper on the dirt. Simply face the top of the dirt block and press the "Place" key/button. The hopper should appear with the wide section facing up and the narrow section facing toward the ground.
3
Remove the dirt block. This will allow for another item to be placed below the hopper.
4
Place a chest below the hopper. Doing so allows the hopper to funnel any items that land in it into the chest rather than strewing them all over the ground.
- You can hold ⇧ Shift while right-clicking to place the chest here without opening the hopper.
- To place the chest without opening the hopper on Minecraft PE or console edition, just crouch while placing it.
5
Select the hopper. Right-click, tap, or use the left trigger on the hopper in order to open it. From this point, you can add items to the hopper; any items you add will immediately be funneled out of the bottom of the hopper.
6
Create a monster trap. Placing a hopper and chest assembly at the bottom of a 30-block-deep shaft and then luring monsters to your position will cause them to fall to their deaths, thereby funneling any items they were carrying into the chest below the hopper.
- Be mindful of the chest's capacity, since if it fills up the trap will no longer collect monster loot for you.
7
Create an automatic stove. Place a furnace on top of the hopper, add fuel to the furnace, and then place a chest below the hopper. After doing so, you can place raw food (e.g., chicken) in the furnace to cook it; once it finishes cooking, it will automatically transfer into the chest.
- Make sure the hopper's spout is facing the chest. If it isn't, the food will just fly out of the hopper.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I throw blocks in a hopper?

Banana Head

Top Answerer

Stand in front of the hopper and press your drop item key.
Question

Can there be hoppers with multiple outputs? (Java Edition)

HazkMazter

Community Answer

Unfortunately, no. You could try connect multiple hopper to a hopper or chest.
Question

I cannot place the furnace on the hopper, what might be wrong?

Community Answer

Press shift and then place the item, it's that easy! You can place the furnace on top of or on the side of the hopper.

Warnings

Hoppers are generally unnecessary for gameplay unless you have large quantities of items that you need to move or you want to create the aforementioned monster trap or automatic stove.

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