Q: I cannot delete iPhone keyboard shortcuts.  They keep restoring.

Please re-read my post as I mention two different programs that will allow you to delete files:

iBackUpBot/iCopyBot (I know nothing about these programs; they were mentioned in earlier posts as being able to read iPhone backups)

iMazing: https://imazing.com/store

To reiterate, you should be deleting these files from the backup, not from the existing content on the device, and then restoring the phone from the revised backup.  DO NOT delete files from the device itself.  Delete the named files/folders ONLY from the backup, after backing it up to iTunes, using one of these applications.  Then use the restore process from either of these applications or directly from iTunes to restore the phone with the revised backup from which you have deleted the necessary files. 

So does iCloud need to be turned off for this to work? I've tried the steps twice and the zombie shortcuts have returned both times. steps I took:

1. Backed up phone with itunes

2. Removed the listed files

3. Restored on iTunes

4. Deleted the shortcuts I wanted gone

A couple things.

1. Delete everything inside the keyboard folder. Ignore looking for subfolders or specific files. Just click on the keyboard folder...everything in there on the right highlight and delete.

2. Make sure you don't have auto sync turned on in iTunes. Because if you do, you'll complete steps 1 & 2, plug in your phone, and it will re-sync everything which negates steps 1/2.

No luck. Deleted all the folders and turned off sync. They still came back.

Well, I deleted the shortcuts before bed last night and they were still gone this morning when I woke up. Sometime in the last hour they can back though

I managed to delete all my unwanted shortcuts on October 21st.  Brilliant  

Today they all came back!  

Mine does same.

Kludge workaround:

change name of offending short cuts to have first letter z,

puts them at bottom of list.

I regret to inform all of those who worked so hard to create what was thought to be the only functional solution that everything has gone completely wonky again in my shortcuts.  After following instructions to the letter and seeing immediate improvement it is now a couple or three weeks later and the following symptoms have either returned or occurred:

1. All shortcuts have completely disappeared from my Mac.  Yesterday I noticed that about half of them (~50-ish) were gone and I replaced some.  This morning they are all completely gone. 
2. Shortcuts added to one iOS device are not syncing to my other iOS device or to the Mac. 
3. Shortcuts that were deleted on one iOS device reappeared on that device and on the other iOS device.

In short, this solution hasn't worked long-term and I am increasingly convinced that Apples iCloud sync process is FUBAR and useless.  It's very disappointing and frustrating.  At this juncture I am ready to switch to TextExpander, which is an aftermarket product, but it has way too many limitations (requires you to use their keyboard instead of the standard iOS keyboard, for one thing, also $45 for the Mac) for me to comfortably switch. 

If anyone has suggestions as to the cause of, fix for or alternatives to this chronically annoying problem I'd appreciate hearing them.

Mine have been gone for almost 6 months. Worked for me.

Synching between iOS and OS X is still slow and crap.

My resent call list also keeps repopulating with every missed, made and recieved call since April this year! 

I found this and am trying it out.

Could this also work for old contacts appearing in the new message window? For instance, if I delete a contact I could type the contacts name in the text message window and the number would show up. Ordinarily not an issue, but sometimes there is someone that you just have to cut out of your life… sad, but it is for the best. if there is help on this too that'd be great.

Here is the solution !!!

HI guys after years of troubleshooting and headhache, 620 post huge waste of time, and Apple support careless on this issue I've found a solution ! Buy a Samsung !

All,

It appears that the most recent update to El Capitan has resolved this problem.  During the past week all of the shortcuts on my Mac completely disappeared.  I ultimately decided to purchase TextExpander just as a workaround.  No sooner did I get that installed and setup that all of the correct shortcuts appeared in the Keyboard Text tab. 

Any shortcuts that I create on one device - iOS or OS X - appear on all of the others and any that I delete on any device disappears from the others.  No rogue shortcuts are appearing anywhere. 

I am hopeful that this is the final resolution to this issue and will keep you posted if this changes. 

Thanks again to everyone who participated in coming up with a solution. 

****!  I spoke too soon.  All of the shortcuts on OS X have completely disappeared.  Just when I thought it was over. 

aaaaannndd… they're back. 

It occurred to me that this must have something to do with caches or permissions so this morning I ran Onyx (great all-around maintenance tool) using the "Automation" tab. All checkboxes except "System Cache" were preselected by default; I also selected the "System Cache" checkbox and let it run.  Even on my SSD it took several minutes to run through all of the maintenance scripts, clean the caches, etc., but when it was done I restarted and, like magic, the text shortcuts in the Keyboard pane of System Preferences are back. 

They're intact and identical to the ones on my iOS devices so this must be something to do with what was cleared out.

Note that in El Capitan (for which you'll need the latest version of Onyx) users normally cannot "Repair Permissions" as we used to be able to in earlier versions.  There is a hidden Terminal command to do this and Onyx must be invoking it in order to have that capability in its GUI.

For now, all is in sync.  I'll report back if that changes.