BigQuery: How can I change the type of one of my column from INTEGER to STRING?

Question

In BigQuery, let say I have an existing table with X fields. Field 1 is currently an INTEGER but I would like to change it to a STRING.

I need to keep data that is

Answer 1

Steps 1-4 can all be done in a single atomic step. Just set a destination table on your query and use allow_large_results and use write_truncate to write your results back to the original table. This will update your table in place.