Is there a way to replace "Shotcuts & Formatting" with the "Menu" to the left a line?

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1

I would much rather an always open menu with quick access to coloring, sizes, numbering, etc than shortcuts & formatting which you will hardly ever use.

I am fine with downloading a plugin extension thing if one exists.

2

The left side menus are specific to the row, so you can’t just turn it on and leave it. However there is a bar designed for mobile use that you could enable with custom CSS:
image

CSS like the following could do the trick:

.node-toolbar.mod-not-ios.js-stop-mousedown-propagation.u-hidden {
 display: inline-block;
}