Quick overview
Modern UI
Completely redesigned menus with improved layouts and aesthetics
Social menu
Message friends, share media, and organize groups in-game
Account switcher
Quickly switch between multiple Minecraft accounts
Notifications
Smart notification system for events, updates, and friends
Redesigned menus
Title screen
- Layout
- Customization
- Compatibility
Title screen improvements
Essential enhances the main menu with:- Improved button layout - Better organized and spaced
- Essential buttons - Quick access to features
- Friend indicators - See online friends at a glance
- NEW indicator - Highlights new content and updates
- Modern aesthetics - Clean, polished design
The condensed variant of the full title screen layout has been removed in favor of a unified, improved design.
Pause menu
Essential enhances the in-game pause menu:- Essential button - Quick access to features during gameplay
- Host World - Invite friends while playing
- Screenshot Manager - View recent screenshots
- Settings access - Adjust Essential settings on the fly
Essential’s Pause Menu no longer incorrectly appears in Minecraft’s Game Paused menu on 1.17+.
Settings menu
Layout improvements
Layout improvements
Settings have been completely redesigned:
- Updated layout - All settings reorganized for clarity
- Updated names - Clearer setting names
- Updated descriptions - Better explanations
- Categorization - Grouped by feature area
- Search function - Find settings quickly
Toggle switches
Toggle switches
Modern toggle switch design:
- Improved design - Better visual appearance
- Smooth animations - Polished toggle animations
- Clear states - Obvious on/off indication
- Accessible - Better usability
Essential controls
Essential controls
Key Essential settings:
- Disable Essential entirely - Master on/off switch
- Cosmetics toggle - Enable/disable cosmetics
- Screenshot settings - Configure screenshot behavior
- Privacy controls - Manage privacy preferences
- Keybind configuration - Customize all keybinds
The Essential button position in settings menu with NoChatReports mod has been fixed.
Social menu
The Social Menu is Essential’s built-in messaging and social platform.Messaging features
- Chat interface
- Replies & threading
- Performance
Redesigned messaging
The Social Menu has received major updates:- Redesigned message input - Better text field design
- Reply banner - Cleaner reply interface
- Message editing - Edit sent messages
- Timestamp display - Last message sent time in chat list
- Updated message colors - Better sent message background
- Improved link colors - More visible links
Messages can now be edited after sending. Look for the edit option on your sent messages.
Media sharing
Screenshot attachments
Screenshot attachments
Share screenshots in messages:
- Attach to messages - Send screenshots to friends
- Multiple attachments - Send several images at once
- Thumbnail preview - See images before sending
- Full resolution - Share original quality
Image embeds
Image embeds
Rich image display:
- Updated embed design - Better visual presentation
- Better placeholders - Improved loading indicators
- Save shared pictures - Download friends’ images
- Full-size preview - Click to view full resolution
Failed image loads now show appropriate placeholders instead of “Failed to load image” errors for successful non-image links.
Link handling
Link handling
Smart link processing:
- Ignore wrapped links - Links in
<>aren’t embedded (e.g.,<https://essential.gg>) - Confirmation modal - Confirm before opening untrusted links
- Embed preview - See link previews inline
- Broken embed removal - Third-party broken embeds removed
Friends & groups
- Friend management
- Groups
- Privacy & safety
Managing friends
- Add Friend modal - Improved design with longer username support
- Friend indicators - Muted indicator on chat list
- Online status - See who’s online
- Friend notifications - Updated “Friend online” notification
The keybind for adding the player you’re looking at as a friend has been removed.
Safety features
Community rules
Community rules
Essential enforces community standards:
- Community Rules modal - Must accept before using social features
- Terms of Use - Updated modal design
- Privacy Policy - Improved presentation
- Rule enforcement - Suspension system for violations
Reporting system
Reporting system
Improved reporting:
- Enhanced reporting modal - Better reporting interface
- Post-report actions - Mute/block after reporting
- Suspension communication - Clear suspension reasons and duration
- Appeal process - Information on appeals
Suspended users
Suspended users
Suspension handling:
- Suspension modals - See why and how long suspended
- Cannot talk indicators - See when you can’t message suspended users
- Clear communication - Understand suspension terms
- Duration display - Know when suspension ends
Account management
Account switcher
- Using account switcher
- Adding accounts
- Session handling
Quick account switching
- New account switcher modal - Modern design
- Loading screen - Shows while switching accounts
- Multiple accounts - Manage all your accounts
- Scrollbar - Navigate long account lists
- Avatar display - See account skins
A scrollbar has been added to the account switcher for users with many accounts.
Discord integration
Discord usernames are now handled correctly for users who migrated to Discord’s new username system.
- Activity status display
- Username synchronization
- Invite integration
- Discord cape unlock
Notifications system
Notification types
Friend notifications
Friend notifications
Stay updated on friend activity:
- Friend online - Updated notification design
- Friend requests - Accept/decline notifications
- World invites - Join hosted worlds
- Messages - New message alerts
System notifications
System notifications
Essential system alerts:
- Update notifications - New version available
- Changelog display - After version updates
- NEW indicator - New content on main menu
- Purchase notifications - Improved purchase alerts
- Gift notifications - Received cosmetic gifts
Custom notifications
Custom notifications
Specialized alerts:
- Single character messages - Now display correctly
- Announcement edits - No extra toast on edits
- Mute confirmations - Successful mute notifications
- Error messages - Clear error communication
Notification settings
- Enable/disable - Toggle notification types
- Sound settings - Notification sound controls
- Display duration - How long notifications show
- Position - Where notifications appear
Toasts no longer block access to the Wardrobe via keybind when cosmetics are disabled.
Modals & dialogs
Improved modals
- Design updates
- Information modals
- Specific modals
Modal improvements
- Improved modal design - Better visual appearance
- Fade-in transitions - Smooth animations (fixed on some systems)
- Keyboard support - Enter key confirmation on text modals
- Consistent styling - Unified design language
Quality of life improvements
Convenience features
Minecraft folder
“Open Minecraft Folder” button for quick access to game files
Changelogs
View changelogs and update notes in Essential Menu
Legal notices
Access Terms of Service and Privacy Policy easily
Timer indicators
Visible timers on limited-time bundles in store
Keybind improvements
Keybind management
Keybind management
Better keybind control:
- Conflict detection - Warns about conflicts
- Easy rebinding - Simple keybind changes
- Default unbinds - Save Hotbar Activator unbound for new users (avoid Zoom conflict)
- Soft-lock fixes - Keybinds no longer soft-lock game
Feature keybinds
Feature keybinds
Quick access keys:
- Screenshot Manager - Open pictures browser
- Wardrobe - Access cosmetics
- Social Menu - Open messaging
- Emote Wheel - Display emote selector
- Toggle Cosmetics - Quick cosmetic toggle
- Zoom - Essential zoom feature
Multiplayer menu
Enhanced server entries with friend indicators showing which friends are on which servers and in hosted worlds.
- Friend indicators on servers
- Hosted world visibility
- Server name corrections
- Better layout and spacing
- Quick join to friends
Select World modal
- Long world names - Now display correctly
- Long descriptions - Proper text wrapping
- Better layout - Improved spacing and organization
Onboarding
- First launch
- Auto-install
User-friendly onboarding
- Improved onboarding - More user-friendly process
- Clear instructions - Step-by-step guidance
- Feature introduction - Learn about Essential features
- New location - Onboarding file moved to better location
Miscellaneous improvements
Visual enhancements
- Essential online indicator - Shows on sneaking players (1.8.9 fixed)
- Drag and drop - Rendering fixed with Fabric API 0.127.0+
- In-solid-block overlay - Renders correctly on 1.8.9
- GUI components - Proper rendering on macOS in 1.21.5+
- Avatar images - Loading issues fixed
- Spacing improvements - “Loading cosmetics” modal spacing
Text & rendering
- Markdown renderer - Crash fixes for certain texts
- Date localization - Removed from screenshot browser for consistency
- Link colors - Improved hover state colors
- Text wrapping - Better wrapping in various modals
- Username display - Fixed UUIDs showing instead of names
Bug fixes
Modal issues
Modal issues
- Fade-in transitions work on all systems
- Enter key confirmation on text modals
- Privacy dialogs show once (not on resize)
- Spacing and alignment corrections
Menu issues
Menu issues
Compatibility
Mod compatibility
Working with:
- Fancy Menu (full compatibility)
- Custom Main Menu
- Mod Menu (Fabric)
- NoChatReports (button position fixed)
- Most UI mods
Resource pack support
- Custom button textures
- Theme customization
- Animated textures
- Nine-slice textures
- UI element overrides
Customization options
Appearance
- Button texture options
- Resource pack themes
- Menu layouts
- Color schemes
Behavior
- Notification preferences
- Keybind configuration
- Privacy settings
- Feature toggles
Troubleshooting
Buttons not showing correctly
Buttons not showing correctly
Social Menu performance
Social Menu performance
Keybinds not working
Keybinds not working
Solutions:
- Check for keybind conflicts in Controls settings
- Verify keybinds aren’t disabled
- Restart Minecraft after changing keybinds
Account switcher issues
Account switcher issues
Solutions:
- Use “Refresh Session” button if session expired
- Re-add account if authentication fails
- Check Microsoft account status
Next steps
Features overview
Explore all Essential features and capabilities
Screenshots
Learn about screenshot management and sharing