Not enough info.

Please give us your exact steps so that we can reproduce the problem.

What entry tool are you using?

What entry method?

What happens when you do so?

I would like to tie 3 16th notes together with one tie.

Using the Simple entry selecting the Tie option nor the Special tool Tie, will not allow more than 2 notes to be tied.  I do not want multiple ties, only 1 tie that includes 3 or 4 notes. Visually you can manipulate the tie to appear to add the values together, but in the playback is defaults to only 2 notes tied.

What you need, is not “standard practice”.

As you probably know, standard practice is that you tie together two consecutive notes of the same scale step, meaning that the performer should play, not a tone repetition, but only one (long) tone with a duration equal to the sum of the two notated values.

Also, in standard practice you can tie three notes together by putting ties between them, thus using two ties.

Finale is supposed to do exactly that - since that is, what many users have requested.

Now for your issue:

Is your issue a layout issue, or a playback issue, or both?

Both. As a teaching tool in both Finale and Smartmusic.

Are you an an experienced Finale user?

I am not sure how detailed instructions you need.

For the playback, enter the ties according to “standard practice” (as shown in my previous post)

This will make the Finale document play back as you need it.

For the layout, move the ties down below the bottom of the page.

In that way the ties will not print, even if they are not “hidden”.

The ties will still play back correctly.

Add a slur as a “false tie”.

I don’t get it. Are you trying to teach incorrect notation?