How to start the page numbering after the title and preface of a book manuscript

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There is more than one way of achieving what you want, but I think that in the long run simplest will be to create a custom page style for the text following your title and preface pages.

1. Select View>Styles to open the styles list. Open the list of page styles by clicking on the fourth icon from the left in the row above the list (its name will appear if you hover the mouse pointer above it). The style you are using (probably Default) will be highlighted.

2. Right-click on the style you are using and select New in the small dialogue that will open.

3. A larger dialogue box will open where you can set up the page style for your document. Select the Organiser tab and give the style a name (eg Text). Set Next Style to the same name (eg Text). If you want the number at the top of the page select the Header tab and check the Header On box (if you prefer numbers at the bottom of the page, turn on the footer in a similar way). It is probably best to try out the page style with the Same content on first page and the the Same content on left and right pages boxes checked. But as you get more experienced try out what you can set up by leaving them unchecked (eg setting up odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left).. Explore the other options to set up the pages as you wish. Click on OK to create the page style.

4. In your document put the cursor at the end of the preface page and select Insert>Manual Break to open a small dialogue. Check Page Break and enter the name of the style you will be using for the text of your book (eg Text). Check the Change page number box and set the first page number you want in the box below it. Click on OK.

5. Put the cursor in the header or footer and select Insert>Field>Page Number. The page number should appear, but if you get some text select View>Field Names to toggle between the name of the field and its effect.

I suggest reading up on styles and their use in the LibreOffice user manuals because they make editing long documents much quicker and easier. And you can get a lot of useful variations (e.g. have your odd and even page numbers appear on different sides of the page for double sided printing). You can download the manuals, free of charge, as PDFs from the LO documentation page https://documentation.libreoffice.org....

Addendum

I have modified the advice in 3 above to correct a slip in my advice (about the best settings for a couple of the check boxes). My apologies if this has caused any confusion.

Writer provides a fast and convenient way to add one or more title pages to a document and optionally to restart the page number at 1 for the body of the document.

To begin, choose Format > Title Page from the Menu bar. On the Title Page dialog, you can make the following choices:

• Convert existing pages to title pages, or insert new title pages.
• How many pages to convert or insert.
• Where those pages are located.
• If and where to restart page numbering, and what number to start with.
• What page style to use for the title page.

Using this technique, you can insert several “title pages” at different points in your document, for example to add decorative pages between chapters as well as title, copyright, and other pages at the beginning of a book.

(LibreOffice Writer Guide, p.113)