# Set the server list text of a Minecraft server > Change the MOTD Java players see under your server's name, or the name Bedrock players see, add colours and see what the list shows while it sleeps. Source: https://www.coritan.com/docs/managed-containers/set-the-motd/ In the dashboard: - /dashboard/deployments/…/settings: https://www.coritan.com/dashboard/deployments The *MOTD*, the message of the day, is the text under your server's name in the Minecraft multiplayer list. On a Java server it is the `motd` setting in `server.properties`. A Bedrock Dedicated Server (BDS) has no MOTD line: the text players see is its server name, the `server-name` setting. The **Server list** card on the server's **Settings** tab edits it, so you do not have to open the file. ## Before you begin - The server must have started once, so that `server.properties` exists. - On a server someone shared with you, you need the Files permission ([Share a server with other users](/docs/managed-containers/users/)). - The server reads the setting when it starts. A change shows in the server list after the next restart. - To show a different text through a join address, such as a proxy's own message, see [Customise the server list entry](/docs/proxies/join-addresses/server-list/). ## Change the text 1. In the [dashboard](https://www.coritan.com/dashboard/servers), go to **App Deployment** and open the server, then the **Settings** tab. 2. In the **Server list** card, edit **Server list text (MOTD)** on a Java server, or **Server name** on a Bedrock server. 3. Select **Save**. 4. To see the change at once, select **Restart now** in the message that follows. The button shows only while the server runs. On a stopped server, the change shows when you start it. The field counts characters as the game does and stops at 256. On a Java server, press Enter for a second line, which the game shows under the first. The preview in the card shows the two lines as plain text, without colours. ## Add colours and styles Type `\u00A7` where you want the section sign `§`. A `§` you paste works too. The card turns what you type into `§`, and writes it to the file the way the game reads it. Follow it with a code: - `\u00A7a` for green, `\u00A7b` for aqua, `\u00A7c` for red, and the other colour codes `0` to `9` and `d`, `e`, `f`. - `\u00A7l` for bold, `\u00A7o` for italic, `\u00A7n` for underline and `\u00A7m` for strikethrough. - `\u00A7r` to go back to the plain style. - `\u00A7x\u00A7R\u00A7R\u00A7G\u00A7G\u00A7B\u00A7B`, where each letter is one hexadecimal digit written after its own `\u00A7`, for an exact colour on Minecraft Java 1.16 and newer. For example, `\u00A7aWelcome to \u00A7lSpawnville` shows `Welcome to Spawnville` in green, with the last word in bold. ## What a Bedrock server name can hold BDS reads `server.properties` literally, so we write a Bedrock name without any escapes: `§` goes into the file as `§`. The card refuses an equals sign and a line break in a Bedrock server name, with `Server name cannot contain = or a line break.`, because BDS ends the name at the first `=` and a line break would split the setting in two. The Bedrock list shows two lines: the server name, then the world name. While the server runs, the world name is the `level-name` setting in `server.properties`. The list does not show an icon or a version string, and the name does not take a second line. ## What the list shows while a server sleeps A [free server](/docs/managed-containers/free-servers/) that sleeps shows two lines in the Minecraft list. The first line is the offline message set on the join address or by your organization. When neither is set, it is the first line of the last MOTD the server showed, cut to 100 characters. The second line says the server is asleep, starting or queued ([How free servers work](/docs/managed-containers/free-servers/#sleeping-and-waking)). The Bedrock list shows the same two lines, with the state line where the world name goes. ## With the API Read `server.properties` and write it back with the [files API](/docs/managed-containers/files/#with-the-api). `GET files/contents?path=/server.properties` returns `content` and `hash`, and `POST files/write` takes `path`, `content` and `expected_hash`. A Java file holds `motd=\u00A7aWelcome` and a Bedrock file holds `server-name=§aWelcome`. ## Troubleshooting `server.properties does not exist yet` : Start the server once, then open the card again. `server.properties changed on the server since this page loaded. Reload it, then save again.` : Someone, or the server itself, wrote the file after the card read it. Reload the card, then save again. The server list still shows the old text : Restart the server. Then check that you did not set a different text on the server's join address, which wins while your server answers. ## Related - [Customise the server list entry](/docs/proxies/join-addresses/server-list/) - [Manage server files](/docs/managed-containers/files/) - [Server settings](/docs/managed-containers/settings/) ## API - `GET /api/v1/client/servers/{uuid}/files/contents`: Get contents of a file (https://www.coritan.com/docs/api/reference/client/deployment-servers/servers-files/#op-get-api-v1-client-servers-uuid-files-contents) - `POST /api/v1/client/servers/{uuid}/files/write`: Write content to a file (https://www.coritan.com/docs/api/reference/client/deployment-servers/servers-files/#op-post-api-v1-client-servers-uuid-files-write)