title: varchar to numeric:Error converting data type varchar to numeric
body: <p>I am trying to convert a column formatted in varchar to decimal(19,12) with the following line of code</p>
  
  <pre><code>ALTER TABLE [tablename]
  ALTER COLUMN [columnname][format]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and get the following prompt:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Msg 8114, Level 16, State 5, Line 25
  Error converting data type varchar to numeric.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Has worked before like a charm. The issue here seems to be that the values in the column are 19 or so digit numeric values formatted as text.</p>
  
  <p>I tried to create a new column, pasted shortened cell values (used the left() function) into it from the original column but that doesn't seem to do the trick either since the code above ends up occationally with the additional "Arithmetic overflow occurred." message.</p>