@Deirdre_Bowers , you received a first resolutive answer 30 minutes after you posted your file (and if you read the Forum Guidelines, it is suggested to post the file immediately to have fast response).
So if you have troubles, just ask in the Forum and you don’t need to loose time and nerves 
« relatively soon » is it the new update 5.1.7 ? I have not seen this point fixed in the list of bugs corrected in this recent update… 
Isn’t it this?
- A problem affecting time signatures and special barlines that could cause the following bars not to respond as expected to changes made in Notation Options has been fully resolved.
No Aaron.
The problem was in the relation to Notation Option and dotted quarter on the second takt that most users wanted to achieve without unnecessary pirouetting (that is, possibility to obtain a dotted quarter and not a quarter tied with quaver).
The only way in 5.1.5 and 5.1.6 was to re-enter metre via Popover. Wrong and tiring solution.
Here the more explicit thread :
Impossible dotted quarter
@ObiwanKenobi Maybe I’m misreading, but the item from the release notes mentions a time sig bug that affected the impact of notation options. It sounds to me like the same thing you (and others) have described.
The note is talking about a barlines problem.
That is not the one I am referring to.
Yes, this is fixed in Dorico 5.1.70, and Aaron has indeed identified the appropriate item from the Version History.
That lng E should belong to a downstem voice. Select it and press V to cycle through the existing voices, or shift-V to create a new voice (press as many times as necessary — 1 or 2 — to get a downstem voice)
I recommend turning voices colours on all the time.
Perfect! Thank you, thank you!!
As @MarcLarcher said, just v is probably enough since there’s an up-stem and a down-stem voice 1 by default.
Jesper
Will do. Tanks!
I don’t think so! If no voice has been created with shift-V, my experience is that only upstem voice 1 exists.
Thank’s Marc.
Jesper
Cannot for the life of me figure out how to just change a rhythm to a sixteenth to a dotted eighth but each time I try to change it, it goes to a tie, then when I try to just insert a note where rests have appeared it won’t do. I have Finale and still use it for everything else until the wheels fall off but I’m forced to use Dorico because some files we purchase require it. Any help is appreciated.
Welcome to the forum, @worship!
I’m not sure from your description exactly what your desired result is – a sixteenth tied to a dotted eighth, but I’m not sure how the rest plays into it.
To get a sixteenth tied to a dotted eighth, turn on Force Duration with letter O or the left toolbar icon that looks like a clamp, enter the sixteenth, turn off Force Duration, and enter the dotted eighth. (You could also turn off Force Duration after you enter the second note, if that makes for an easier workflow.)
If there’s something else you’re looking for, can you provide a screenshot or image? Since you’re a new user, you may need to spend a few minutes reading other posts before your trust level lets you add images to your posts.
It’s still so clunky. I got it to do on one staff but still have no idea how I did it. In Finale, I could just erase rests and they’d be gone then add in notes. Now I have to turn on a Force Duration thing which I don’t even know what that does and then I try to add a dot and it ties it? Undo the tie by cutting because you can’t simply erase a tie the same way you can notes. Just a cycle of insanity at this point lol.
@worship
The Manual is a wonderful reference (you will find also a video at the end of the chapter):