how do I start page numbering later in a word document

Hello Bob_In_AZ

I am Aklande and I am happy to help with your request. To start page numbering later in a Word document, you can follow these steps:

1. Insert a section break after the last page of your title page and table of contents. To do this, place the cursor at the end of the last page of the section you don't want to be numbered, go to the "Page Layout" tab, click on "Breaks" in the "Page Setup" group, and then select "Next Page" under "Section Breaks". This will create a new section in your document.
2. Double-click in the header or footer of the first page of the new section to open the header or footer area.
3. In the "Header & Footer Tools" tab that appears, click on the "Link to Previous" button to turn off the link between the header or footer in the previous section and the current one. This ensures that the page numbering doesn't continue from the previous section.
4. Go to the "Insert" tab, click on "Page Number" in the "Header & Footer" group, and then select the position and style of the page number you want.
5. Click on "Page Number" again and select "Format Page Numbers".
6. In the "Page Number Format" dialog box, select "Start at" and enter "1" in the "Start at" field.
7. Click on "OK" to close the "Page Number Format" dialog box.
8. Close the header or footer area by clicking on the "Close Header and Footer" button or by double-clicking outside the header or footer area.

This should start the page numbering at page 1 in the new section of your Word document, while excluding the title page and table of contents pages from the page count.

Regards, Akande

See Numbering Front Matter by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP. It has detailed instructions on this very question.