How to get users initals into a label

[Jason_Hough]

Hi there I can easily get my full name in a label by going User().FullName - but how would I get my initals (so my name is Jason hough - and initials will be JH) ?

[CarlosFigueira · Accepted solution]

If the name only has two parts (first / last), then you can use the formula below:

Left(User().FullName, 1) &
Mid(
    User().FullName,
    Find(" ", User().FullName) + 1,
    1)

The first part takes the first character (initial of the first name); the second part first finds the first space within the full name, then takes the first character after that space.

If you have name with multiple parts (e.g., Barack Hussein Obama => BMO; George W Bush => GWB), then there's no simple way to get the initials - we need a function to split a string into a table/collection, and this doesn't exist. If this is your scenario, please consider upvoting this feature request in the PowerApps Ideas board.

[CarlosFigueira]

The latest PowerApps release now has a Split function, which can be used to solve this problem in a more generic way:

Concat(Split(User().FullName, " "), Left(Result, 1))

Update: since early 2023 the result of the Split function is a table with columns called "Value", not "Result", so the expression should be the following: 

Concat(Split(User().FullName, " "), Left(Value, 1))

[Meneghino]

Great news about the new Split function.  In addition to what @CarlosFigueira said, I would use this approach wherever you use the User() function, otherwise app perfomance may suffer.

[Anonymous]

That is seriously cool.  Works on names with more than two initials.  Thanks for that.

[LEGRANCHE]

Hi Jason, 

Don t know if you are still looking for a solution haht work whatever the name is, but you can use this formula:

Concat(ForAll(Split(User().FullName," "),{Initial:Left(ThisRecord.Result,1)}),Initial&" ")

[daniellemaree85]

hiya @CarlosFigueira @LEGRANCHE 

I have had the similar problem. I am trying to split user initials if they have a profile picture or not. i've followed the steps above  and it appears to be blank.. any ideas?

AddColumns(
'Skills Matrix',
"UserPhoto",
If(
!IsBlank(SelectedRecord.EmployeeName1.Email) And Office365Users.UserPhotoMetadata(SelectedRecord.EmployeeName1.Email).HasPhoto,
Office365Users.UserPhotoV2(SelectedRecord.EmployeeName1.Email)
),
//Initials
"Initials",
With(
{
//get user record
varRecordUser: If(
!IsBlank(SelectedRecord.EmployeeName1.Email),
Office365Users.UserPhotoV2(SelectedRecord.EmployeeName1.Email)
)
},
//find the user initials
Concat(ForAll(Split(SelectedRecord.EmployeeName1.DisplayName, " "), {Initials:Left(ThisRecord.Value, 1)}), Initials&" ")

)

)

[LEGRANCHE]

HI @daniellemaree85 ,

Could you provide an example value of "SelectedRecord.EmployeeName1.DisplayName" to ensure that the displayname is using a space " " as separator?

[daniellemaree85]

hi @LEGRANCHE its using the name "last name, first name"

[daniellemaree85]

i found a solution using this Mid(ThisItem.EmployeeName1.DisplayName,Find(" ",ThisItem.EmployeeName1.DisplayName ) +1,1)& Left(ThisItem.EmployeeName1.DisplayName,1)