diff --git a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/InsertTransactionHistory.java b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/InsertTransactionHistory.java
index 6282ede52aa514353c21f0b8dd3345a85305725b..32f628459b4a8e3a23b9ac3d047e723d7a837c28 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/InsertTransactionHistory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/InsertTransactionHistory.java
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ import org.caosdb.server.database.BackendTransaction;
 import org.caosdb.server.database.backend.interfaces.InsertTransactionHistoryImpl;
 import org.caosdb.server.database.exceptions.TransactionException;
 import org.caosdb.server.entity.EntityInterface;
+import org.caosdb.server.entity.InsertEntity;
+import org.caosdb.server.entity.UpdateEntity;
 import org.caosdb.server.entity.container.TransactionContainer;
 import org.caosdb.server.utils.EntityStatus;
 
@@ -60,7 +62,8 @@ public class InsertTransactionHistory extends BackendTransaction {
 
     for (final EntityInterface e : this.container) {
       if (e.getEntityStatus() == EntityStatus.DELETED
-          || e.getEntityStatus() == EntityStatus.VALID) {
+          || (e instanceof UpdateEntity && e.getEntityStatus() == EntityStatus.QUALIFIED)
+          || (e instanceof InsertEntity && e.getEntityStatus() == EntityStatus.VALID)) {
 
         t.execute(
             e.getClass().getSimpleName().replace("Entity", ""),
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/RetrieveFullEntityTransaction.java b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/RetrieveFullEntityTransaction.java
index 6bac0ff187fe2a08d2d0c1c7450ac954bc023d5e..da45738e0f36a9ce7414294461f2f94cf467fd05 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/RetrieveFullEntityTransaction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/database/backend/transaction/RetrieveFullEntityTransaction.java
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ public class RetrieveFullEntityTransaction extends BackendTransaction {
    * @param selections
    */
   public void retrieveFullEntity(EntityInterface e, List<Selection> selections) {
+    if (!needMoreThanId(selections)) {
+      return;
+    }
     execute(new RetrieveSparseEntity(e));
 
     if (e.getEntityStatus() == EntityStatus.VALID) {
@@ -108,8 +111,17 @@ public class RetrieveFullEntityTransaction extends BackendTransaction {
       if (e.getRole() == Role.QueryTemplate) {
         execute(new RetrieveQueryTemplateDefinition(e));
       }
-      execute(new RetrieveParents(e));
-      execute(new RetrieveProperties(e));
+      if (needParents(selections)) {
+        execute(new RetrieveParents(e));
+      } else {
+        // do nothing
+      }
+
+      if (needProperties(selections)) {
+        execute(new RetrieveProperties(e));
+      } else {
+        // do nothing
+      }
 
       // recursion! retrieveSubEntities calls retrieveFull sometimes, but with reduced selectors.
       if (selections != null && !selections.isEmpty()) {
@@ -118,6 +130,39 @@ public class RetrieveFullEntityTransaction extends BackendTransaction {
     }
   }
 
+  private boolean needMoreThanId(List<Selection> selections) {
+    if (selections == null || selections.isEmpty()) {
+      return true;
+    } else if (selections.size() == 1 && selections.get(0).isId()) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  private boolean needProperties(List<Selection> selections) {
+    if (selections == null || selections.isEmpty()) {
+      return true;
+    }
+    for (Selection s : selections) {
+      if (s.isProperty()) {
+        return true;
+      }
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  private boolean needParents(List<Selection> selections) {
+    if (selections == null || selections.isEmpty()) {
+      return true;
+    }
+    for (Selection s : selections) {
+      if (s.isParent()) {
+        return true;
+      }
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Recursively resolve the reference values of the list of reference property `p` (but only the
    * selected sub-properties).
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
index dca63841df3ee1a5efa4148d24e3e8eb68cd2f50..5e49ea7b5b51bb315f0e76b3026ba95dad787995 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
@@ -32,12 +32,15 @@ import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.sql.Statement;
 import java.sql.Types;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
+import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import org.antlr.v4.runtime.CharStreams;
 import org.antlr.v4.runtime.CommonTokenStream;
@@ -74,6 +77,10 @@ public class Query implements QueryInterface, ToElementable, TransactionInterfac
   public static class Selection {
     private final String selector;
     private Selection subselection = null;
+    static final Set<String> MAGIC_NON_PROPERTIES =
+        new HashSet<>(
+            Arrays.asList(
+                new String[] {"value", "parent", "id", "name", "description", "datatype"}));
 
     public Selection setSubSelection(final Selection sub) {
       if (this.subselection != null) {
@@ -111,6 +118,18 @@ public class Query implements QueryInterface, ToElementable, TransactionInterfac
       ret.setAttribute("name", toString());
       return ret;
     }
+
+    public boolean isParent() {
+      return this.selector.equalsIgnoreCase("parent");
+    }
+
+    public boolean isProperty() {
+      return !MAGIC_NON_PROPERTIES.contains(this.selector.toLowerCase());
+    }
+
+    public boolean isId() {
+      return this.selector.equalsIgnoreCase("id");
+    }
   }
 
   public enum Role {