I am trying to tie the 8th-note anticipation to the whole note (see below). I used Start Note Input, checked the tie box, and selected the slash voice which I had previously used. When I input the 8th-note slash, the tie disappears. Alternately, I tried writing the two note values separately, then selected the first note and hit the tie tool, but that didn’t work either. PLEASE, Steinberg, bring us something as efficient and intuitive as Finale Speedy Entry.
If you’ve worked a long time with a specific application and then have been forced to another one with a different concept it can happen that you confuse intuitive with accustomed. 
I myself worked more than 30 years with Finale and switched two years ago when Finale has been put into coma.
Unlike Finale which is more mouse based Dorico is keyboard based. It becomes very intuitive when you get into the keyboard shortcuts.
For example there are very useful shortcuts to move and shorten/lengthen notes.
- ALT/OPTION ← / → moves the note by the duration of the rhythmic grid – even across bar boundaries which Finale was never able to.
- SHIFTALT/OPTION ← / → shortens/lengthens the note by the duration of the rhythmic grid – also even across bar boundaries.