ntext (Transact-SQL) – Microsoft Docs

ntext (Transact‑SQL)

Deprecated: The ntext data type is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of SQL Server. Use nvarchar(max) instead.

Overview

The ntext data type stores large Unicode text data up to 2^30‑1 (1,073,741,823) characters. It was originally intended for storing massive blocks of text such as articles, comments, or HTML markup.

Syntax

column_name ntext [NULL | NOT NULL]

Storage

Stored as out‑of‑row data when size exceeds 8 KB.
Maximum storage size: 1 GB.
Cannot be indexed directly; use full‑text indexes.

Example: Creating a Table

CREATE TABLE Articles
(
    ArticleID INT IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
    Title NVARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
    Content ntext NULL
);

Example: Inserting Data

INSERT INTO Articles (Title, Content)
VALUES (N'Azure Migration',
        N'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. ...');

Example: Selecting Data

SELECT ArticleID, Title, CAST(Content AS NVARCHAR(MAX)) AS Content
FROM Articles
WHERE ArticleID = 1;

Note: When converting ntext to other string types, use CAST(... AS NVARCHAR(MAX)) or CONVERT(..., 1).