You can use the selection constraints to quickly preview and select a group of components.
The selection constraints in the Modeling Toolkit do not filter your selection. The following options use propagation, expanding your selection to other components on the same mesh.
When on, moving your cursor over a mesh automatically highlights contiguous components that fall within the specified angle tolerance. Clicking a highlighted area selects it.
Marquee selecting when the Angle selection constraint is on selects all of the components inside the marquee and expands the selection to all components outside of the marquee that are within the specified angle tolerance.
When on, moving your cursor over a mesh automatically highlights existing borders. Clicking a highlighted border selects it.
If you make a marquee selection and it contains border components, only border components inside and outside the marquee are selected.
When on, moving your cursor over a mesh automatically highlights edge loops. Clicking a highlighted edge loop selects it.
Marquee selecting when the Edge Loop selection constraint is on selects the edges inside the marquee and any associated edge loops. You can also add and remove edge loops while making a marquee selection. See Add and remove components from a selection.
When on, moving your cursor over a mesh automatically highlights edge rings. Clicking a highlighted edge ring selects it.
Marquee selecting when the Edge Ring selection constraint is on selects the edges inside the marquee and any associated edge rings. You can also add and remove edge rings while making a marquee selection. See Add and remove components from a selection.
When on, moving your cursor over a mesh automatically highlights existing shells. Clicking a highlighted shell selects it. This option is useful for objects made from a series of individual pieces, like meshes that are created using Mesh > Combine.