[MCPE-49853] Villagers lock profession without being traded with (do not become unemployed when you break their workstation)

Steps to reproduce:

Put any job block in that villagers range
Wait for him to get a job that block has assigned him with
Save & Exit
Enter your world again
Remove the block

Expected result: villager becomes jobless.

Actual result: villager will keep his profession even if that block has been removed.

With this, the villager will lock with this profession no matter what and he hasn't even been traded with.

Linked issues

is duplicated by 33

BDS-19703 Villagers won't lose their jobs when their jobs blocks are broken, even if I don't trade with them Resolved

MCPE-49932 Villagers keep profession after removing profession block Resolved

MCPE-55844 villager professions changes behave differently once every time you save and exit Resolved

MCPE-68008 Villagers not losing their job when their block is destroyed Resolved

MCPE-69925 Villager does not lose job. Resolved

28 more links

Comments 17

IonicEcko 2020-04-27T07:16:42Z

Do they refuse to link to a new job block?

I've seen them revert to a random job rather than unemployed but they have always linked to a new one I place down.

If they don't technically "lock" you may want to update your summary.

GoldenHelmet 2020-05-25T20:12:14Z

Confirmed that villagers often do not revert to unemployed when their job site block is broken. I can't say for sure if that only occurs after relog.

Lyndsay Taylor 2021-06-20T18:57:22Z

This issue just happened to me last night but seemed to happen after I locked in the first villager. Every villager with a profession now has a small amount of experience even though I’ve not traded with them. So that’s it, all locked.

Lisa Silcher 2021-06-27T12:16:19Z

Lyndsay same in my world.

GoldenHelmet 2021-06-27T20:45:24Z

Lyndsay Taylor & Lisa Silcher: what you are reporting would be a different bug. The behavior tracked on this ticket is just the circumstance where villagers with no experience do not revert to unemployed when you break their workstation. It does not involve villagers gaining any experience. For your issue, please create a new report with steps to reproduce.

7 more comments

Predrag Lezaic 2021-08-27T18:28:30Z

This is still an issue in 1.17.11 in Windows 10 realm world. I have 11 librarians. Two of them I made one trade with to lock their trade. I removed all the lecterns and all of them are still librarians. I logged out multiple times with no difference.

Lee 2021-08-29T00:32:21Z

I have the same error in Realms, which I have replicated several times. I am 100% certain that these villagers were linked to their specific workstation on each occasion. When I tested this with several villagers in a villager trader area, one at a time, I removed the ‘failed’ villager and their workstation from the area each time so there would be no cross attachment. I tried different slots in the area, in case it was a location issue. Each villager lost their trade when the workstation was broken, and took up their trade, with the green particles, each time they reconnected. But the trades remained exactly what they were prior to the disconnection to the work block. This only happens after I have left the area or logged out midway through the process. If I stay logged in or remain in the area, setting up remains as normally expected.

My trader area is within a chunk and not crossing borders.

I am certain that each villager had not been traded with previously as they came from a villager breeder. I am also certain that I didn’t trade with them at the stage of placing them into the trade area, as I didn’t keep anything in my inventory, so there could be no mistakes.

Judy 2022-02-27T17:17:39Z

Same problem, villagers will claim workstations that should belong to another locked in villager. For example, I had 1 lectern and 2 librarians.... couldn't get the one I had not traded with to drop his profession. It would also be great if the area a villager looked for workstations was decreased to a reasonable size. Less than 20 blocks. This area is so large, it makes building near villages and using workstations in builds where you don't want the villagers linking to them impossible.

Reply from @unknown:

Villagers do not choose the nearest workstation in Bedrock Edition. When a villager finds a workstation (or bed or bell), it tells the village. Then the village assigns it to the next villager in a hidden list. To link villagers where you want, you need to figure out which one in the village is next in the list, and then place the workstation you want for that villager.

utkarsh1297 2022-05-03T12:28:16Z

This issue is still there in bedrock 1.18.30. Not sure what to do. I have tried everything, villagers are not unlinking from workstations even after being broken.

BlueFlare3125 2022-07-10T17:44:08Z

Affects 1.19.2

BlueFlare3125 2022-07-10T17:44:22Z

This happens upon world generation for every village

bleh 2022-08-16T04:29:24Z

Affects 1.19.20 and 1.19.30.21 Beta/Preview.

TranAran 2022-10-11T09:27:21Z

1.19.31 Nintendo Switch

Current Workaround: (Zombie Villagers)

Cure Villager (away from any form of technical "villages").
Set up the corresponding workstation & bed to the Villager.
Exit game.
(Optional) Make world backups.
Reload world.
Set up desired workstation(s).
Break the workstation matching the Villager. The Villager should unlink, but they cannot seek out another workstation. (Place back the workstation if you are trying to shuffle trades).
Travel about 30-50 blocks away from the Villager. (Unload the chunk(s) the Villager resides.)
Return to the Villager. (The Villager should be linked to the desired workstation.)
A bit tedious, repeat steps 7-9 to shuffle their trades.

This can only be done with one Villager at a time. Must restart at step 1 if you're planning to cure consecutive villagers.

TL;DR: I miss just setting up workstations for villagers to link & instantly unlink when I break said stations.

_alphaBeta_ 2023-09-30T19:23:47Z

Issue persists on Switch and PC on 1.20.31. A lot of these problems would be addressed if villagers that are locked in are prioritized over non-locked in villagers to claim a job block. There's some other issues associated with duplicate villager professions (like a newly discovered village having two clerics, but only one brewing station in town), but fixing this one aspect would allow the player to correct most situations.

I keep winding up with duplicate professions where a locked in villager still has their profession (as expected), but no block to replenish trades. Destroying all blocks of that profession doesn't help since the next available villager, who never had that profession, keeps claiming the block ahead of the locked-in villager.

Jim 2024-07-30T23:26:40Z

This issue just happened to me. v1.21.2 on 8/30/2024

Now I have to kill 21 villagers.

Please fix this.

RandomDude58 2025-02-06T04:36:46Z

This has happened in our 1.21.51 realm multiple times already.

Ben 2025-05-12T17:12:35Z

Also on nintendo still a common issue in 1.21.80