diff --git a/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.html b/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.html
index 9958f3dd231d50464f6746f0d017d7d664634f03..c758036ef1d03bc81f152f98aaf97ad7a3a33fb8 100644
--- a/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.html
+++ b/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.html
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 <div
   class="legend"
-  [class.right]="this.config.legendPos === 'right'"
+  [class.right]="config.legendPos === 'right'"
   [ngClass]="{ 'legend-small': drugstoneConfig.smallStyle }"
 >
   <div class="legend-background"></div>
   <!-- default legend in html -->
-  <table *ngIf="!this.config.legendUrl.length" class="legend-table">
-    <ng-container *ngIf="this.config.showLegendNodes">
-      <ng-container *ngFor="let nodeGroup of this.config.nodeGroups | keyvalue">
+  <table *ngIf="!config.legendUrl.length" class="legend-table">
+    <ng-container *ngIf="config.showLegendNodes">
+      <ng-container *ngFor="let nodeGroup of config.nodeGroups | keyvalue">
         <tr
           class="list-item"
           *ngIf="nodeGroup.key && checkNodeGroupContext(nodeGroup.key)"
@@ -86,9 +86,9 @@
       </ng-container>
     </ng-container>
 
-    <ng-container *ngIf="this.config.showLegendEdges">
+    <ng-container *ngIf="config.showLegendEdges && _emptyEdgeConfig">
       <tr
-        *ngFor="let edgeGroup of this.config.edgeGroups | keyvalue"
+        *ngFor="let edgeGroup of config.edgeGroups | keyvalue"
         class="list-item"
       >
         <ng-container
@@ -114,8 +114,8 @@
 
   <!-- custom legend image if url given by user -->
   <img
-    *ngIf="this.config.legendUrl.length"
-    [src]="this.config.legendUrl"
-    [ngClass]="this.config.legendClass"
+    *ngIf="config.legendUrl.length"
+    [src]="config.legendUrl"
+    [ngClass]="config.legendClass"
   />
 </div>
diff --git a/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.ts b/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.ts
index 8c8c89b514bc870ecca3bc9ecce9066b3dc91e15..faa8c53f1d583a64b6ea08cc11fb9f5a6c56c9bb 100644
--- a/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/components/network/network-legend/network-legend.component.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@ import {IConfig} from '../../../config';
 })
 export class NetworkLegendComponent implements OnInit {
 
-  @Input() context: LegendContext;
+  _context = 'explorer'; 
+  _emptyEdgeConfig = false;
+  @Input() set context (value: LegendContext) {
+    this._context = value;
+    this._emptyEdgeConfig = this.checkIfEdgeConfigEmpty();
+  };
   @Input() config: IConfig;
 
   private contextNodeGroupsToDelete = {
@@ -40,11 +45,15 @@ export class NetworkLegendComponent implements OnInit {
       // selected node is not supposed to appear in legend
       return false;
     }
-    return !this.contextNodeGroupsToDelete[this.context].includes(nodeGroupKey);
+    return !this.contextNodeGroupsToDelete[this._context].includes(nodeGroupKey);
   }
 
   public checkEdgeGroupContext(edgeGroupKey) {
-    return !this.contextEdgeGroupsToDelete[this.context].includes(edgeGroupKey);
+    return !this.contextEdgeGroupsToDelete[this._context].includes(edgeGroupKey);
+  }
+
+  public checkIfEdgeConfigEmpty() {
+    return Object.keys(this.config.edgeGroups).some(key => this.checkEdgeGroupContext(key));
   }
 
   constructor(public drugstoneConfig: DrugstoneConfigService) { }