… to place notes on a stave without having to have all the rests and notes showing …

… all I want to see is the accented notes on a 1-bar stave …

… it seems all the notes have to be lined up …

… it's not possible to have anything but a full measure …

I am not sure I understand.

Perhaps something like this:

You can hide individual notes and rests.

But how is the performer supposed to know, when to play the notes??

Thanks Peter.

Something like that. Usually, I'll use slash marks to mark the beats. I'm the only one reading the music.