Have you ever updated your Drupal site only to suddenly have errors?

If you use Drupal regularly, this will happen to you at some point. One common way to solve an error is with a patch. A patch changes the code on your site, but only by editing a file rather than providing a complete update.

However, applying a patch isn't easy for non-coders. Many of the available instructions for applying patches ask you to use an application called Drush and to use command line instructions. These instructions can be intimidating, so we're going to show you how non-coders can safely apply patches using the Patch Manager module.

First, find the patch that you want to download. In this example, we're going to use this patch for the Facetapi Slider module.

Save the patch file to your desktop. In this example, I'll save the file with the name "term_query_support-1347348-11.patch"

Install and enable the Patch Manager module.

Go to Structure > Patches.

Click the "Add" tab.

Patch name : Enter a name for this patch

: Enter a name for this patch Patch file : Upload the file you just downloaded

: Upload the file you just downloaded Module : Enter the system name of the module you're applying the patch to. One easy way to get the name is from the URL of the module's Drupal.org page. So the system name for the module is facetapi_slider because the project is hosted at https://www.drupal.org/project/facetapi_slider

: Enter the system name of the module you're applying the patch to. One easy way to get the name is from the URL of the module's Drupal.org page. So the system name for the module is facetapi_slider because the project is hosted at https://www.drupal.org/project/facetapi_slider Click the Save button.

You'll see that the patch has been saved, just like a content item:

Go to Structure > Patches and we can now apply the patch: Select the patch you just uploaded. Select "Apply patch" from the dropdown menu. Click the "Execute" button.

Congratulations, the patch has now been applied. If something goes wrong, you can always revert the patch to undo your changes: