I want the page numbers in the header but no number on the title page, acknoweledgement page and dedication page.
I have looked through the index at all the instructions but cannot follow the technical terms
You are describing a structure for your document. In its simplest form, you have a “preamble” and a “body” with a different presentation in these parts. You must then define a page style for each part.
You can keep the built-in Default Style for your “body”. You can also use First Page for your preamble.
- in First Page, you do not activate the header (this is the default).
- In “Default Style”, you activate the header in the
Headertab of the style definition and set its properties.
Read the chapter in the Writer guide about page style or, at least, the built-in help topic.
Display the style side pane with F11 and click on the fourth small icon from the left (the one with a page sketch on it) in the toolbar.
When you’re in your “preamble”, double-click on First Page in the list. All your pages are now formatted according to this style.
The tricky part is the switch between the preamble and the body. This is done with a page break. You can insert one manually with Insert>Manual Break (not Insert>Page Break because we want to change the page style) and select Page Break and Style Default Style from the drop-down menu, check Change page number and set the starting page number.
All the pages after the break are formatted according to Default Style. You can then add your header.
To show the community your question has been answered, click the ✓ next to the correct answer, and “upvote” by clicking on the ^ arrow of any helpful answers. These are the mechanisms for communicating the quality of the Q&A on this site. Thanks!
@ajlittoz has written a well defined answer. In this context, I have created an extension that eases such processes. You can try it here:
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/page-numbering-addon