Minecraft wiki entry for Creative, associated text: The player can obtain items using pick block. Unlike Survival, the block selected appears in the player's hotbar even if the block is not already in the hotbar or in the Survival inventory. If it is in the inventory, then the block moves out of its former slot and replaces the block/item in the active hotbar slot, with the size of the stack preserved. If the hotbar is full then the selected block replaces the block/item in the active slot.