Set up ActionAnnouncer on a Minecraft server

ActionAnnouncer sends announcements to the action bar, the line of text above the hotbar, instead of filling the chat. It can rotate through a list on a timer, greet players when they join and send a one-off message to a player or everyone. Players need no extra software, and the plugin runs on Paper or Purpur.

Checked against ActionAnnouncer 1.16.4, the newest build on its Spigot page, and the plugin's wiki, October 2026. That build dates from December 2021, and the page lists Minecraft 1.8 to 1.18 as tested. On start, the plugin works out the server's version from the name of the server's internal package, and Paper, which Purpur is built on, has not put a version in that name since Minecraft 1.20.5. On 1.20.5 or newer the plugin logs An error has occurred while trying to get the server version! and does not finish starting, so its commands, announcements and config.yml never appear. Use it only on Minecraft 1.20.4 or older, back up before you try it and read the Console on the first start.

What you need

• A Paper or Purpur server on Minecraft 1.20.4 or older. Vanilla servers have no Plugins tab, so switch software in JAR Manager first (see Change your Minecraft version or mod loader).
• PlaceholderAPI is optional. On its own, ActionAnnouncer only offers %player% and %online% in messages. With PlaceholderAPI installed you can use its placeholders as well.

Install it

ActionAnnouncer is published on Spigot, which the Plugins tab does not search, so you add the jar by hand.

1. Take a backup in the Backups tab.
2. On your own computer, download the jar from the plugin's Spigot page.
3. In the File Manager, open the plugins folder and click Upload to add the jar.
4. Restart from the Console tab (or click Start if the server is stopped) and type plugins. If ActionAnnouncer is listed in green, it loaded. If it is red or missing, read the Console for the error, then delete the jar again. Also look in the Console for the line An error has occurred while trying to get the server version!. If it is there, the server is too new for this plugin, so delete the jar.

Write your announcements

The plugin writes its config.yml into its own folder, plugins/ActionAnnouncer, on the first start. Open it in the File Manager. The wiki's sample config was written for version 1.14.0 and has these keys:

• announcer_enabled is true in the sample. /aa start and /aa stop switch the timed announcements on and off.
• announcer_random is true in the sample, and the plugin can send announcements randomly or in order.
• announce_interval sets the time between timed announcements. It is in seconds, and the sample uses 60.
• announcement_length is also in the sample, set to 4. The sample does not explain it.
• announcements is the list of messages. Use %player% for the player's name and %online% for the number of players online.
• announce_on_join and join_announcement greet a player when they join.
• disable_sounds is the setting for the announcement sounds. Any player can also run /aa quiet to toggle those sounds for themselves.

The sample messages use & color codes such as &a and &b. After you save the file, run /aa reload.

Commands

All of these start with /aa, or /ActionAnnouncer.

• /aa list shows the active announcements.
• /aa add <message> and /aa remove <index> edit the list without opening the file.
• /aa start and /aa stop switch the timed announcements on and off.
• /aa announce <display time> <message or index> sends one to everyone online. The display time is in seconds.
• /aa send <player> <display time> <message or index> sends one to a single player.
• /aa pannounce <player> <display time> <message or index> sends one to everyone online, with placeholders set to the named player.
• /aa reload reloads the config file.
• /aa quiet toggles the announcement sounds.

Permissions

Each command has a permission, written the same way as the command, in lower case: actionannouncer.send, actionannouncer.announce, actionannouncer.reload, actionannouncer.start, actionannouncer.stop, actionannouncer.list, actionannouncer.add, actionannouncer.remove, actionannouncer.pannounce and actionannouncer.help. The /aa quiet command needs no permission. Those are the names the plugin's own code checks. The plugin's wiki writes them with capital letters. The Spigot page misspells the add, remove and list ones without the second "r", as actionannounce.add, actionannounce.remove and actionannounce.list, and the plugin checks none of those three, so granting them does nothing. Give them to staff with a permissions plugin such as LuckPerms.

Common problems

• Nothing shows above the hotbar. Run /aa start in case the timed announcements are stopped, and check the interval is not too long.
• A placeholder shows as raw text. Without PlaceholderAPI, only %player% and %online% work.
• The plugin does nothing, or will not load. If the Console shows An error has occurred while trying to get the server version!, the server is on Minecraft 1.20.5 or newer, which this build cannot start on, so remove the jar. Otherwise read the first error in the Console, and if it names ActionAnnouncer, remove the jar.