diff --git a/src/edt/edt/edtPartialService.cc b/src/edt/edt/edtPartialService.cc
index a527ea03c..18b5e98ad 100644
--- a/src/edt/edt/edtPartialService.cc
+++ b/src/edt/edt/edtPartialService.cc
@@ -2700,7 +2700,26 @@ PartialService::partial_select (const db::DBox &box, lay::Editable::SelectionMod
 
   } else {
 
-    PartialShapeFinder finder (box.is_point (), m_top_level_sel, db::ShapeIterator::All);
+    int shape_flags = 0;
+    if (edt::polygons_enabled ()) {
+      shape_flags |= db::ShapeIterator::Polygons;
+    }
+    if (edt::paths_enabled ()) {
+      //  Note: points, edges and edge pairs don't have seperate entires, so
+      //  we count them as paths here
+      shape_flags |= db::ShapeIterator::Paths;
+      shape_flags |= db::ShapeIterator::Edges;
+      shape_flags |= db::ShapeIterator::EdgePairs;
+      shape_flags |= db::ShapeIterator::Points;
+    }
+    if (edt::boxes_enabled ()) {
+      shape_flags |= db::ShapeIterator::Boxes;
+    }
+    if (edt::texts_enabled ()) {
+      shape_flags |= db::ShapeIterator::Texts;
+    }
+
+    PartialShapeFinder finder (box.is_point (), m_top_level_sel, db::ShapeIterator::flags_type (shape_flags));
     finder.find (view (), search_box);
 
     //  We must make sure that guiding shapes are only selected alone. The first selected object will 
@@ -2750,7 +2769,7 @@ PartialService::partial_select (const db::DBox &box, lay::Editable::SelectionMod
     }
 
     //  check, if there is a selected instance inside the box - in this case, we do not do a new selection
-    if (! box.is_point ()) {
+    if (! box.is_point () && edt::instances_enabled ()) {
 
       lay::InstFinder inst_finder (box.is_point (), m_top_level_sel, true /*full arrays*/, true /*enclose*/, 0 /*no excludes*/, true /*visible layers*/);
       inst_finder.find (view (), search_box);
diff --git a/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.cc b/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.cc
index daf89efe6..51eea026b 100644
--- a/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.cc
+++ b/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.cc
@@ -287,6 +287,24 @@ static tl::RegisteredClass<lay::PluginDeclaration> config_decl5 (
   "edt::Service(CellInstances)"
 );
 
+template <class Service>
+bool is_enabled ()
+{
+  for (auto p = tl::Registrar<lay::PluginDeclaration>::begin (); p != tl::Registrar<lay::PluginDeclaration>::end (); ++p) {
+    auto pd = dynamic_cast<const edt::PluginDeclaration<Service> *> (p.operator-> ());
+    if (pd) {
+      return pd->editable_enabled ();
+    }
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+bool polygons_enabled () { return is_enabled<edt::PolygonService> (); }
+bool paths_enabled () { return is_enabled<edt::PathService> (); }
+bool boxes_enabled () { return is_enabled<edt::BoxService> (); }
+bool texts_enabled () { return is_enabled<edt::TextService> (); }
+bool instances_enabled () { return is_enabled<edt::InstService> (); }
+
 class MainPluginDeclaration
   : public lay::PluginDeclaration
 {
diff --git a/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.h b/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.h
index 3076fcd78..dc9bef133 100644
--- a/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.h
+++ b/src/edt/edt/edtPlugin.h
@@ -46,6 +46,17 @@ namespace edt
     //  .. nothing yet ..
   };
 
+  /**
+   * @brief Returns a value indicating whether polygons are enabled in the "Select" menu
+   */
+  bool polygons_enabled ();
+
+  //  other types ...
+  bool paths_enabled ();
+  bool boxes_enabled ();
+  bool texts_enabled ();
+  bool instances_enabled ();
+
   /**
    *  @brief Commits the current configuration for the recently used configuration list
    */