Hi Earl,

See http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NumberingFrontMatter.htm

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Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP         FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

1. Insert a new page section break before the start of your current first
page.

2. Go to what is now section 2. Go to Insert > Page Numbers; click the
Format button. Set the page numbering to start at 1 (instead of continue
previous section).

3. Select, in turn, each header and footer in that section and clear the
'Same as previous' button on the Headers and Footers toolbar. Now you can
configure or delete the headers and footers on page one without interfering
with the rest of the document.

4. Replace any NUMPAGES fields (eg Page n of m), with { = {NUMPAGES} - 1}

A much simpler solution if you can create a PDF is to create your cover page
as a separate document; output that and the original separately to PDF, then
combine them using Acrobat.

The other two replies would work, but wow, do they seem a lot more
complicated than necessary. :)

Here is how I add cover pages:
Place cursor at beginning of the first page of your document.
Go to Insert -> Break. Select "Next page".
Go to File -> Page Setup -> Layout. Enable "Different First Page".
Go to Insert -> Page Numbers. Disable "Show number on first page".
In the same dialog, click Format. Select "Start at" and set the number to
zero.

Now you can add your cover page text to the first page in the document. If
there is any text in the cover page header/footer, simply delete that
header/footer text. The other headers/footers will be unaffected.