This guide is based on several demands that i found on PrestaShop forums . Users have got troubles with activation of columns for their webshop based on PrestaShop 1.6  engine. They can't save changes for columns settings due to the error message, that appears right affter pressing the button to change appearance of column:

An error occurred while updating this meta

 

How to fix this problem?

Well, to fix this issue you need an access to some database managers like PhpMyAdmin (or other desktop software like freeware: HeidiSQL, MySQL workbench etc. So, please open, for example PhpMyAdmin and go to your prestashop database. Then open "SQL tab" where you can execute own sql queries.

Paste there this mysql query:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `ps_meta`;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS IF NOT EXISTS `ps_meta` (
  `id_meta` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `page` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
  `configurable` tinyint(1) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
  PRIMARY KEY (`id_meta`),
  UNIQUE KEY `page` (`page`),
  KEY `meta_name` (`page`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=35 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;


DELETE FROM `ps_meta`;
INSERT IGNORE INTO `ps_meta` (`id_meta`, `page`, `configurable`) VALUES
	(1, '404', 1),
	(2, 'best-sales', 1),
	(3, 'contact', 1),
	(4, 'index', 1),
	(5, 'manufacturer', 1),
	(6, 'new-products', 1),
	(7, 'password', 1),
	(8, 'prices-drop', 1),
	(9, 'sitemap', 1),
	(10, 'supplier', 1),
	(11, 'address', 1),
	(12, 'addresses', 1),
	(13, 'authentication', 1),
	(14, 'cart', 1),
	(15, 'discount', 1),
	(16, 'history', 1),
	(17, 'identity', 1),
	(18, 'my-account', 1),
	(19, 'order-follow', 1),
	(20, 'order-slip', 1),
	(21, 'order', 1),
	(22, 'search', 1),
	(23, 'stores', 1),
	(24, 'order-opc', 1),
	(25, 'guest-tracking', 1),
	(26, 'order-confirmation', 1),
	(27, 'product', 1),
	(28, 'category', 1),
	(29, 'cms', 1),
	(30, 'module-cheque-payment', 1),
	(31, 'module-cheque-validation', 1),
	(32, 'module-bankwire-validation', 1),
	(33, 'module-bankwire-payment', 1),
	(34, 'products-comparison', 1);

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `ps_theme_meta`;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS IF NOT EXISTS `ps_theme_meta` (
  `id_theme_meta` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `id_theme` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `id_meta` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL,
  `left_column` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
  `right_column` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
  PRIMARY KEY (`id_theme_meta`),
  UNIQUE KEY `id_theme_2` (`id_theme`,`id_meta`),
  KEY `id_theme` (`id_theme`),
  KEY `id_meta` (`id_meta`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=35 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

DELETE FROM `ps_theme_meta`;
INSERT IGNORE INTO `ps_theme_meta` (`id_theme_meta`, `id_theme`, `id_meta`, `left_column`, `right_column`) VALUES
	(1, 1, 1, 0, 0),
	(2, 1, 2, 1, 0),
	(3, 1, 3, 0, 0),
	(4, 1, 4, 1, 0),
	(5, 1, 5, 1, 0),
	(6, 1, 6, 1, 0),
	(7, 1, 7, 0, 0),
	(8, 1, 8, 1, 0),
	(9, 1, 9, 1, 0),
	(10, 1, 10, 0, 0),
	(11, 1, 11, 0, 0),
	(12, 1, 12, 0, 0),
	(13, 1, 13, 0, 0),
	(14, 1, 14, 0, 0),
	(15, 1, 15, 0, 0),
	(16, 1, 16, 0, 0),
	(17, 1, 17, 0, 0),
	(18, 1, 18, 0, 0),
	(19, 1, 19, 0, 0),
	(20, 1, 20, 0, 0),
	(21, 1, 21, 0, 0),
	(22, 1, 22, 1, 0),
	(23, 1, 23, 0, 0),
	(24, 1, 24, 0, 0),
	(25, 1, 25, 0, 0),
	(26, 1, 26, 0, 0),
	(27, 1, 28, 1, 1),
	(28, 1, 29, 0, 0),
	(29, 1, 27, 1, 1),
	(30, 1, 30, 0, 0),
	(31, 1, 31, 0, 0),
	(32, 1, 32, 0, 0),
	(33, 1, 33, 0, 0),
	(34, 1, 34, 0, 0);

In some cases you will need also update settings for these pages under preferences > SEO & URLs tab in your back office. You will need to translate it these page titles for your language.