Q: Keyboard shortcut problems in iPhone 5S with iOS 8 update

Settings / General / Keyboard / Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts (iOS 8) coming and going?

I suspect that iOS memory manager may swap out the keyboard shortcuts if it needs memory, or some intermittent iCloud issues may be happening.

It seems the keyboard shortcuts may come and go from time to time, randomly and intermittently.

There are more than a few dozen users reporting this problem since the recent update to iOS 8 on ipad, iPhone, etc... Lots of workarounds are being suggested. Some work for awhile, others report different experiences.

For me, patience won out. Somehow, it works now!

• iPad Air, updated to iOS 8. Lost all my keyboard shortcuts. Rebooted, no joy.

• Waited half an hour, and all the shortcuts reappeared (in the list) but they did not work in the Notes app.

• When I came back half an hour later, everything was okay. Shortcuts were working for awhile.

• Later, they disappeared again, later they came back. Randomly and intermittently.

Please be sure to report your problem to Apple support team here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

The more who report it, the sooner it may be fixed?

Apple does not monitor this discussion forum. It's only for users to share experiences.

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I wish I had just been patient too. I spent hours trying to fix this to no avail before finding out it was a widespread problem. I did notice that sometimes a few shortcuts would show up eventually after a long time (although not all of them).

Earlier I couldn’t use Siri, which leads me to believe iCloud is taking a dump as usual.

Lots of problems with iMessage failing to deliver too… Apple's new motto, "It just doesn't work."

settings>>icloud>>documents and data --- is not there anymore !!!!!

There is a bug in iOS 8. See my response here: Re: iOS8 Keyboard shortcuts are not syncing between devices

I upgraded both iPhone 5S and iPad 4 to IOS 8 yesterday. Keyboard Shortcuts are missing on both. I've tried all the tips above.

On iPhone I have synced with iTunes for the first time just now since upgraded and they are ARE BACK on iPhone.

iPad syncing now ..... stay tuned ...... OK iPad is fixed up - the only issue I have is 1 duplicate shortcut with the same ShortCut code. Also I have more shortcuts on my iPad which would be true from a historical point of view - so they don't seem to be shared via the Apple ID or iCloud Account.

My iTunes does backups to "This Computer" not "iCloud"

This happened to me as well. To get the documents and data toggle back, reboot your device.

I think all of this is rooted to the new predictive keyboard. I have noticed reviews on third party keyboards where they are disappearing from the keyboard picker. I hope these bugs are related as it would ensure a faster fix for us. Third party keyboards are a tentpole feature of iOS 8. Aside form installing Text Expander and copying all shortcuts there, I am out of ideas. I can only attest to the fact that shortcuts are merely hidden and not deleted. I would advise others not to delete their shortcuts and create them again as it would be a total waste of time. Also, if you have these on a Mac, don't disturb them as you don't want that to lead to data loss. Keyboard shortcuts are synced via iCloud. Since we have no granular control to toggle that feature on and off, all we can do is wait for Apple to fix this. 

Thanks.  It's weird that I am typing away and my shortcuts are. It working. I went to Settings - General and this whole section looked different. The keyboard selection was not there.   But later I was doing something else and checking General again and this whole selecation was back as normal including the Key oars choice.   Don't understand what happened.

After spending an hour with Apple on the phone (they were useless...) I figured it out.

Here's what worked for me:

1. sign out of iCloud

2. sign into icloud

3. reboot

4. Turn iCloud Drive off

5. reboot

6. turn icloud drive on

7. turn icloud backup off (if it's already off you can either just turn it on or turn it on, sync, then off)

8. reboot

9. turn backup on and reboot. kb shortcuts are back - after this, you can turn backup on or off whatever you like

some steps may be redundant, but that's what worked for me.

I think I fixed it

1: Delete all your keyboards in your settings except the one keyboard you use the most.  FYI    I use several keyboards (italian)(spanish)

2: Add a new keyboard  I added English(UK)

3: now Delete the keyboard you use the most.

I have not added all my other keyboards yet nor the one I use the most.  

Nevermind Ugh!!!

same here, tried ALL solutions offered here several times ARGHHH even chatted with apple help desk, they asked me what keyboard shortcuts where *~*

they kept asking me to turn on documents and settings in my first line i explained that this was gone after activating icloud drive.. do they even know their operating system?!

In my case they never came back once.. turned off/on all possible icloud/drive combinations and rebooted everytime signed out a few times etc.. doesnt work with me proper ****** off about this :@

I just decided to retype all my shortcuts and be done with it. Went into System Preferences and found the shortcuts are still on my Mac, and just retyped them from there. Took like 10 minutes and everything is back to normal.

Just got off the phone with Apple Support. As I've done every trick in the book (and in this post), they did not get any further than an apology (next to do a restore (my God!) - which I already did due to another issue - but that is an entirely other story).

Strangly enough the "never heard of this problem before".

Pointing them to this forum was of no help.

Anyways, there was a remark that "there back-end was not functioning as it should", so maybe, just maybe, it is a server-syncing issue and all will be fixed when that get's fixed.

PS: I've the same issue on my iPad Air, so it definitely smells as a bug - either in the cloud or in iOS 8.

Cheers!