How do I set the MOTD of my Minecraft server?

The MOTD (Message of the Day) is the text players see in their server list in Minecraft. You change it in the server.properties file.

1. In the game panel, open the Files tab.
2. Click the server.properties file to edit it.
3. Find the line that starts with motd= and put your text after it.
4. Save the file and restart the server from the Console tab.

Colors and formatting

Minecraft uses color codes that start with the section sign (§). Because that character is often not saved correctly in server.properties, use the notation \u00A7 followed by the code instead. For example:

motd=\u00A76Welcome to our server! \u00A7aHave fun!

In the server list this appears as gold and green text.

Some commonly used codes:

• §a light green, §b light blue, §c red, §6 gold
• §l bold, §o italic, §r reset formatting

You create a new line with \n. The MOTD can be at most two lines long.

To make things easy for yourself, use an online MOTD generator. It shows a preview and produces the exact text you can paste right after motd=. Keep in mind that the change only becomes visible after a restart of the server.

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