Editor Mode in Minecraft Bedrock Edition: All you need to know

In a major change for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, Mojang released the rumored Editor Mode in the latest preview beta. The tool allows players to alter their worlds during gameplay with remarkable detail.

At the moment, the Editor Mode is still in its early stages of development. It can be accessed by installing Minecraft: Bedrock Edition's preview program via the official game launcher.

The editor's program can then be accessed via a shortcut directly from the player's device (the Editor Mode is currently unavailable on mobile). Its menus operate similarly to the main game, but the tools available are obviously quite different.

What can a player accomplish using Minecraft: Bedrock Edition's Editor Mode?

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Exploring the functions of Minecraft's new Editor Mode

Editor Mode refers to worlds as projects that players can tweak and create within (Image via Mojang/Microsoft)

With the release of the new Editor Mode, Minecraft players can create custom worlds known as projects. They can manipulate and edit them as desired before exporting them into a format that can be used as a world for Bedrock Edition.

Mojang stated that it intends to provide this feature to help players become creators and offer custom content and worlds of their own design. Players can change the face of the world they've generated while also handling its finer details, such as its day/night cycle, entities, and more.

Listed below are the primary functions and features of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition's Editor Mode:

• Movement - Though players can still move as they would in an ordinary Minecraft world, Editor Mode views the world through a viewport. Players will need to hold down their right mouse button to enable movement in certain modes.
• Tool and Crosshair Modes - There are two primary aspects of Editor Mode. Tool Mode has multiple tools and assistants to edit and manipulate blocks as needed. Crosshair Mode exists for a more precise editing experience, focusing on single blocks instead of ranges of blocks.
• Additional Navigation - While Tool Mode requires the right mouse button to be held to move, movement is free in Crosshair Mode. In Tool Mode, it's also possible to press the G key to immediately teleport to an area highlighted by the player.
• The Toolrail - This is the bread and butter of Editor Mode's editing process. The rail is a collection of tools to the left of the screen where players can cut, paste, brush, preview, and select blocks and manipulate or create them accordingly.
• Transform - This gives players the ability to take a selected group of blocks and alter their XYZ coordinates, effectively changing the size and shape of blocks directly. A preview function helps fans visualize what their changes will look like before they commit to them.
• Fill - The days of entering the /fill command in Minecraft are a thing of the past. The Editor Mode now lets players pick ranges of blocks and replace or fill them with specific block types in just a few clicks. No keyboard inputs are needed.
• Gizmos - Two gizmos have been implemented that allow players to move and resize their selection, complete with previews, to better visualize how their edits will appear during the transformation process.
• The Brush - Using this tool, players can pick specific blocks and draw shapes and formations by hand. Switching between blocks is easy and should help players create unique structures and terrain by hand.
• Creation, Import, and Export - When a Minecraft player has created a world they can be happy with, it's possible to export a world project as a playable world. Bedrock players can use the world to play in. It's also possible to import other players' world projects and edit them before exporting them again and making them playable.
• World Options - In addition to edits, this menu in the Editor Mode gives players access to pause or unpause actors like mobs and other entities. It's also possible to switch to the Nether or the End dimensions from this menu. Accessing and changing the day/night cycle and time can also be performed.
• Additional Help - There's a lot to Minecraft's Editor Mode, and it has a ton of depth to explore and functions that don't necessarily fit as a primary feature. If a player is stuck with how to edit something or what to do next, the help function built into the editor provides a helpful resource provided by Mojang and Microsoft that gives details on every tool and function.

Minecraft players should be aware that while the Editor Mode has been released for all Bedrock players, it can take some time to learn. It's best to start small and work their way outward unless they have previous world editing knowledge from mods like WorldEdit.

Mojang's Editor Mode is a powerful tool, but it doesn't come without a learning curve.