Almost everything is said. I have created a layer preset with only silk and values, just to make it easy to solder by hand or other methods. I have noticed that the condition for E (edit) command to work is when there is at least the copper layer. In my case, for instance if I want to edit C16 below, the E command does not do anything.
What exactly do you want to edit? “C16” is ambiguous because it can mean either the whole component or the reference designator. Tell also which items and layers you have enabled – one can have values on any layer.