Converting ntext to varchar in SQL Server 2005

Question

Is it possible to convert from ntext to varchar in SQL Server?

This is the syntax: ALTER TABLE TBL1 ALTER COLUMN email varchar NULL.

This is the error m

Answer 1

Are you definitely on SQL Server 2005 - Not 2000?

I tested the following and couldn't get the same error message as you

CREATE TABLE TBL1
(
email NTEXT NOT NULL
)
INSERT INTO TBL1 VALUES (N'ghfhfhgtf') 


ALTER TABLE TBL1 ALTER COLUMN email varchar NULL
/*Error: String or binary data would be truncated.*/

ALTER TABLE TBL1 ALTER COLUMN email nvarchar (max)
/*Works*/