diff --git a/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md b/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
index 3ff3fde7..c71ef586 100644
--- a/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
+++ b/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
@@ -436,9 +436,10 @@ Defined in `src/components/editorSchema.tsx` and styled in `src/components/Edito
 
 Defined in `src/components/tolariaEditorFormatting.tsx` and `src/components/tolariaEditorFormattingConfig.ts`:
 
-- `SingleEditorView` disables BlockNote's default formatting toolbar and `/` menu, then mounts Tolaria-owned controllers so the visible formatting surface matches Tolaria's markdown round-trip guarantees.
+- `SingleEditorView` disables BlockNote's default formatting toolbar, `/` menu, and side menu, then mounts Tolaria-owned controllers so the visible formatting surface matches Tolaria's markdown round-trip guarantees.
 - The formatting toolbar only exposes inline controls that persist through `blocksToMarkdownLossy()` in Tolaria's save pipeline: bold, italic, strike, nesting, and link creation. Controls that BlockNote can render temporarily but Tolaria cannot faithfully persist, such as underline, color, alignment, and the block-type dropdown, are hidden instead of appearing to work and later disappearing.
 - The `/` slash menu remains the supported path for markdown-safe block transformations such as headings, quotes, and list blocks. Tolaria filters out BlockNote's toggle-heading and toggle-list variants because those do not map cleanly to the markdown note model.
+- The block-handle side menu keeps only actions that survive Tolaria's markdown round-trip. Delete and table-header toggles remain available; BlockNote's `Colors` submenu is removed because block colors are not part of Tolaria's supported markdown surface.
 
 ### Markdown-to-BlockNote Pipeline
 
diff --git a/src/App.test.tsx b/src/App.test.tsx
index f7de5c1d..1768569d 100644
--- a/src/App.test.tsx
+++ b/src/App.test.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { render, screen, fireEvent, waitFor } from '@testing-library/react'
+import type { ReactNode } from 'react'
 import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach } from 'vitest'
 
 // Provide a localStorage mock that supports all methods (jsdom's may be incomplete)
@@ -125,6 +126,12 @@ vi.mock('@blocknote/core/extensions', () => ({
 
 vi.mock('@blocknote/react', () => ({
   createReactInlineContentSpec: () => ({ render: () => null }),
+  BlockNoteViewRaw: ({ children }: { children?: ReactNode }) => (
+    <div data-testid="blocknote-view">{children}</div>
+  ),
+  ComponentsContext: {
+    Provider: ({ children }: { children?: ReactNode }) => <>{children}</>,
+  },
   useCreateBlockNote: () => ({
     tryParseMarkdownToBlocks: async () => [],
     replaceBlocks: () => {},
@@ -132,6 +139,7 @@ vi.mock('@blocknote/react', () => ({
     insertInlineContent: () => {},
     onMount: (cb: () => void) => { cb(); return () => {} },
   }),
+  SideMenuController: () => null,
   SuggestionMenuController: () => null,
 }))
 
diff --git a/src/components/Editor.test.tsx b/src/components/Editor.test.tsx
index f4c53304..cd11d50a 100644
--- a/src/components/Editor.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Editor.test.tsx
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ vi.mock('@blocknote/react', () => ({
     </div>
   ),
   FormattingToolbarController: () => null,
+  SideMenuController: () => null,
   // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any -- mock
   SuggestionMenuController: (props: any) => {
     capturedGetItemsByTrigger[props.triggerCharacter] = props.getItems
diff --git a/src/components/SingleEditorView.tsx b/src/components/SingleEditorView.tsx
index 17c15614..59a321ce 100644
--- a/src/components/SingleEditorView.tsx
+++ b/src/components/SingleEditorView.tsx
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import {
   SuggestionMenuController,
   BlockNoteViewRaw,
   ComponentsContext,
+  SideMenuController,
 } from '@blocknote/react'
 import { components } from '@blocknote/mantine'
 import { MantineContext, MantineProvider } from '@mantine/core'
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ import {
   TolariaFormattingToolbar,
   TolariaFormattingToolbarController,
 } from './tolariaEditorFormatting'
+import { TolariaSideMenu } from './tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu'
 import { useEditorLinkActivation } from './useEditorLinkActivation'
 
 const TEST_TABLE_MARKDOWN = `| Head 1 | Head 2 | Head 3 |
@@ -223,7 +225,9 @@ export function SingleEditorView({ editor, entries, onNavigateWikilink, onChange
         editable={editable}
         formattingToolbar={false}
         slashMenu={false}
+        sideMenu={false}
       >
+        <SideMenuController sideMenu={TolariaSideMenu} />
         <TolariaFormattingToolbarController
           formattingToolbar={TolariaFormattingToolbar}
           floatingUIOptions={{
diff --git a/src/components/tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu.test.tsx b/src/components/tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9facdb75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react'
+import type { ComponentType, PropsWithChildren } from 'react'
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { TolariaSideMenu } from './tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu'
+
+let capturedDragHandleMenu: ComponentType | null = null
+
+vi.mock('@blocknote/react', () => ({
+  DragHandleMenu: ({ children }: PropsWithChildren) => (
+    <div data-testid="drag-handle-menu">{children}</div>
+  ),
+  RemoveBlockItem: ({ children }: PropsWithChildren) => <div>{children}</div>,
+  SideMenu: ({ dragHandleMenu }: { dragHandleMenu?: ComponentType }) => {
+    capturedDragHandleMenu = dragHandleMenu ?? null
+    return <div data-testid="side-menu" />
+  },
+  TableColumnHeaderItem: ({ children }: PropsWithChildren) => <div>{children}</div>,
+  TableRowHeaderItem: ({ children }: PropsWithChildren) => <div>{children}</div>,
+  useDictionary: () => ({
+    drag_handle: {
+      delete_menuitem: 'Delete',
+      header_row_menuitem: 'Header row',
+      header_column_menuitem: 'Header column',
+      colors_menuitem: 'Colors',
+    },
+  }),
+}))
+
+describe('TolariaSideMenu', () => {
+  it('replaces BlockNote block colors with markdown-safe drag-handle items', () => {
+    render(<TolariaSideMenu />)
+
+    expect(screen.getByTestId('side-menu')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(capturedDragHandleMenu).not.toBeNull()
+
+    const DragHandleMenuComponent = capturedDragHandleMenu!
+    render(<DragHandleMenuComponent />)
+
+    expect(screen.getByText('Delete')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(screen.getByText('Header row')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(screen.getByText('Header column')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(screen.queryByText('Colors')).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/components/tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu.tsx b/src/components/tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2c132ecd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/tolariaBlockNoteSideMenu.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import {
+  DragHandleMenu,
+  RemoveBlockItem,
+  SideMenu,
+  TableColumnHeaderItem,
+  TableRowHeaderItem,
+  type SideMenuProps,
+  useDictionary,
+} from '@blocknote/react'
+
+function TolariaDragHandleMenu() {
+  const dict = useDictionary()
+
+  return (
+    <DragHandleMenu>
+      <RemoveBlockItem>{dict.drag_handle.delete_menuitem}</RemoveBlockItem>
+      <TableRowHeaderItem>{dict.drag_handle.header_row_menuitem}</TableRowHeaderItem>
+      <TableColumnHeaderItem>{dict.drag_handle.header_column_menuitem}</TableColumnHeaderItem>
+    </DragHandleMenu>
+  )
+}
+
+export function TolariaSideMenu(props: SideMenuProps) {
+  return <SideMenu {...props} dragHandleMenu={TolariaDragHandleMenu} />
+}
diff --git a/tests/smoke/editor-block-handle-zoom.spec.ts b/tests/smoke/editor-block-handle-zoom.spec.ts
index 4fd9435d..b4af31c5 100644
--- a/tests/smoke/editor-block-handle-zoom.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/smoke/editor-block-handle-zoom.spec.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ async function expectZoomedHandleClickToWork(
 
   const menu = page.locator('.mantine-Menu-dropdown').filter({ has: page.locator('.mantine-Menu-item') }).first()
   await expect(menu).toBeVisible({ timeout: 5_000 })
+  await expect(menu.getByRole('menuitem', { name: 'Delete' })).toBeVisible()
+  await expect(menu.getByRole('menuitem', { name: 'Colors' })).toHaveCount(0)
   await page.keyboard.press('Escape')
   await expect(menu).toBeHidden({ timeout: 5_000 })
 }