How do I change a note in a bar without changing the entire piece?

Dorico is indeed the best friend of those who like to change their mind — or fix mistakes without having to rewrite everything (and I’m a Finale refugee too!)

Here is just a simple example of the different ways you can rewrite music in the middle of a piece. Piano and flute. Five different results for the exact same correction: I’m just entering a quarter note in the right hand of the piano, bar 2 beat 3. It shows that every possible scenario has been planned:

  1. Without insert mode: as @asherber and @k_b were saying, it overwrites the existing music. Nothing moves.

  2. With Insert Mode:
    a. Insert (voice): Only the voice I’m correcting is shifting to the right. Here, the right hand of the piano. Piano left hand and flute don’t move

b. Insert (Player): All notes of the player move: here, both staves of the piano. Flute doesn’t move.

c. Insert (Global): All the instruments move

d. Insert (Global adjustment of current bar). Like the previous one, all the music moves, but also the next barline, and the Times Signatures are adjusted.