For ePub, how to set to open on TOC page in ereaders?

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
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I’m working in Sigil to customize my Scrivener compiled ePub file. I like having the TOC as the first page directly after the cover so that readers can either choose to read the front matter or skip right to my book’s first chapter. However, I’ve noticed that some ereading platforms jump to the first page of my front matter, directly after my TOC, instead of my first page after my cover (the TOC). Then readers are forced to go backwards to get to my TOC or go forward for several pages until they reach chapter one. Some people read front matter so it’s not a big deal for them but through my experience, it seems like most people just want to get to chapter one.

Does anyone know how I can edit my ePub coding so that ereaders will always open to my TOC?

I’ve taken a look at the coding in Sigil and I’m wondering if it’s because my first page of front matter is marked with the id “body” while the TOC is marked as “contents.”

If anyone has any ideas of how to tackle this, I’d greatly appreciate it.

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You’re headed in the right direction. I posted about this topic in response to someone trying to set the start point to the cover image. So ignore the bits about how that cannot be done, and also the stuff about tweaking a .mobi file. With ePub you just need to open it in Sigil to edit the OPF file. You can link to the HTML contents page though. Not every reader supports this start page meta-data, which is why you’ve noticed varying results.

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Thank you for the fast reply and for the link!