Is there a way to only use part of a merge field in Word?

Question

Hi. I'm using an Excel file as the data source for a mail merge into Word. It's a letter, and I have a field for the recpeients' first names. However on the address I only want to use the first letter of their name, e.g. if the first name field is Oli, I only want to use the O.

This is as I want to use the full name later on. Any ideas if this can be done?

Answer 1

There is probably a better way within Word, but the way I would do this is to create another field in the spreadsheet and use the LEFT formula to grab the first letter. Example: Assuming first names are in column B, and data starts on row 2, go to the first unpopulated column in the first row of data, enter the following:
LEFT(B2,1)

Then you can select and drag the fomula down as far as you need to in order to populate the list.

Answer 2

As far as I can recall, the only way would be to add a field to the source d/base for the initial (or, if you're using Excel, a column).