Finale can do that with whole measures.

1) Use the plug-in Split Measure to split the measure into three measures: 1/2, 1/4 and 1/4.

NB: This is a two step process since you can only split one measure into two measures.

2) Select, Cut out - and Insert at the desired location.

3) Use the plug-in Merge Measures to merge the three measures.

NB: This is a two step process since you can only merge two measures.

Seriously? Seems unnecessarily cumbersome, but I'm amazed at the number of things that are—and have been for decades—commonly done in text and graphics editing that are not possible in Finale. I understand there is all sorts of hidden MIDI and playback information that may make it a more complex process, but drag & drop (without copying) has been around a long time. 

But the process you outline can be done with a stack of measures? I don't want to change the entire stack all the way from top to bottom of the score; only a selected (contiguous) stack, leaving some measures unchanged. Is that possible using the Split/Merge process?

… I don't want to change the entire stack all the way from top to bottom of the score; only a selected (contiguous) stack, leaving some measures unchanged. Is that possible using the Split/Merge process? …

Oops! Sorry!

I thought that you were talking about changing the entire measure stack.

As Far As I Can Tell, the trick I described only works for entire measure stacks.

You could copy the music to an empty document, do the swap there, and then copy the swapped music back into the original document.

Hey, it looks like you have come up with a good idea for a feature request.

Use the link “Submit a request” at the top of this web page.

Well, I already just made the changes piecemeal using the speedy entry tool, which I'm already familiar with. Only took a couple minutes. But thanks for outlining the other method, which may come in handy in other places.

I did have a brief exchange in the feature requests area with a Michael Johnson, VP of Professional Notation, a couple of years ago about similar general complaints about why Finale doesn't use common Mac keyboard shortcuts, etc, including drag & drop of things like expressions and smart shapes, or common graphics keyboard combinations (at least in Adobe products) like a marquee zoom to zoom in on a specific area of a score. The fact is, I don't use Finale nearly enough to be familiar with enough of it, so I appreciate all the comments and help anyone on the community offers, including yours, so thanks again for the replies.