Alan Van Zee,

My first guess would be that you are not talking “Finale-speak”, right?

A tie is an arc that connects noteheads of the same pitch, meaning one (long) note whose duration is the sum of the tied notes.

My guess is that you want to beam the notes together, rather than tie them together.

{Beaming the eighth notes together} is a matter of defining the 6/8 time signature like this:

Number of Beats: 2

Beat Duration: Dotted Quarter

Tip:

When you are in the Time Signature Tool, try the context menu.

If you choose 6/8 from the context menu, then you will get the 6/8 time signature defined as two dotted quarters.

You're probably correct that I'm not speaking "Finale-speak".  I'm not familiar with "beam", but I'll take your word for it!  I basically want the stems of the three eighth notes to be one continues horizontal line: 1 dotted quarter note, followed by three eighth notes, which are connected at the stem by one horizontal line.  So, how do I make this happen?

… So, how do I make this happen? …

Did you try the advice in my previous post?

My guess is that you defined the 6/8 time signature in the “wrong” way:

Number of Beats: 6

Beat Duration: Eighth

Doing so will give you single, flagged eighths

Now I understand, and I got it.  Thank you for your help.

Or, if you have already entered the notes, select he second of the three notes, and tap the / (forward slash) key. Then, use the right arrow to advance to the third note, and tap the / key.

As you can see, the / beams the selected note to the previous one.

To have them beam correctly as you go, follow Peter’s advice.

Defining the 6/8 time signature will affect all new entries.

To update already existing entries to the new 6/8 time signature, try the Rebeam utility:

Utilities menu > Rebeam > Rebeam Music

Thank you both.