Using Merge Fields in Word

Hello,

Using Mail Merge, I would like to know if it is possible to have only the first few characters of a merged field appear as a result of a merge.

Would this be done with format switches and IF statements?

Here's an example of why I want to do this:
We have a product quote document that is a mail merge template. There is a table in the document that lists things such as product description, product code, product quantity, cost, etc...

The problem I am having is that our product code can be about 10 characters in length, and to prevent from having to turn the document landscape view, we have to keep these columns relatively small. A product code can look pretty ugly when it ends up being 3-4 lines long, instead of just one line. So in this case, I would like to only return the first 3 characters of the code. Is this possible?

Thank you in advance to anyone who looks into this.

- Keith