Hello, MG and Sherry -
About 5 minutes after I posted the suggestion, I thought about using the Free Text and a keyboard apostrophe. That is what I have done for the score that I am working on (or just finished).

MG -
Using the search word, "articulations", it mentions the accents palette. The 3rd from the left is a solid down arrow for a "light accent". I still see no "apostrophe" anywhere.

Sherry -
I don't use the Playback feature, but I have heard people discussing it on other forums in relation to Finale (mainly). It appears that the articulations (accents, etc.) do affect the Playback. So that is mainly why I suggested including it on one (or a couple) of the palettes. Then, the preceeding note would be slightly shortened (and, maybe, a slight ritard made, with an immediate a tempo). If that is too much programming, then it would be much faster to have the 'apostrophe' available on a palette and hot key than to go the Free Text route.

Frank Newman