Restricting the maximum length to 4 characters on web page

Hello Experts

We want to restrict the length of the description field in iSupplier Portal > Finance > Invoice results to 4 characters

Our users use the invoice description for internal use however we want the first 4 characters to be displayed in invoice search results

I tried doing web personalization by giving 4 as maximum length but no luck, it is displaying the whole description

In the attached document the invocie description is displaying as OHDC-CC-09/05/13-CLAIRE CONNOLLY-GRANGEMOUTH, my requirement is to display only the first characters which is OHDC

Any inputs on this highly appreciated

Thanks

DIlip