I wanted to try out some "effects" on a piece of artwork (trying to match a client's purloined image) but as you can see from the attached screenshot, the Effects Gallery window is almost impossible to read, and the artwork I wish to experiment with is just a tiny square in the left-hand of the window, so there's no way to see the effect anyway. I tried selecting the effects individually from the menu vs. going through the gallery, but when I choose one, it just opens the gallery anyway. Does anyone have any idea why this palette is so tiny in its resolution when other palettes work just fine? I'm using Illustrator CC, latest. I use a 28" monitor with resolution set high (but on the recommended setting) and everything else I do is at an appropriate size and readable. But I have to squint at this palette, and again, it doesn't matter because the artwork I want to affect is too small to see at left. Any ideas would be appreciated.
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Hi there,
Please try to scale Illustrator UI from Preferences and let us know if that helps
1) Do one of the following:
- (Windows) Choose Edit > Preferences > User Interface.
- (macOS) Choose Illustrator > Preferences > User Interface.
2) Adjust the UI Scaling slider. A preview of the scaled UI is displayed in the Preferences dialog box.
3) Select the Scale Cursor Proportionately option to scale the cursor icons in proportion to the UI.
4) To apply this setting, relaunch Illustrator. If you do not relaunch Illustrator, the changes will take effect the next time you launch Illustrator.
If that does not help, I would request if you can try changing the screen resolution.
macOS Sierra: Adjust your display’s resolution
https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/14108/windows-7-change-screen-resolution
Regards,
Srishti
Srishti,
Thanks much for your reply. 
However, per the attached screenshot, I do not appear to have the scaling slide to which you refer that is pictured in your own visuals. This morning (before my first post) I checked my CC dashboard to make sure I was up to date on my apps, and I was. Coincidentally, about 15 min ago, I saw that new updates were released today and on the off-chance that you were already using them, I updated and then checked the User Interface pref again. The slider still does not appear. I am using Windows. Perhaps that slider is a Mac-only function.
Re changing my resolution, that is really not an option as it works perfectly for everything else and would cause more problems than it is worth (in Adobe programs AND others) to fix this one box that I don't use that often. My documents would be HUGE and I'd have to manipulate them to get them down to workable size, in all my apps (not just Adobe) if I changed the resolution enough to make this effects palette readable. I really think this has something to do with Illustrator.
A while back, I had another program -- just an info-dumping app where I keep various notes -- and I had a similar problem with one of their palettes. They advised me to delete preferences and restart. I did and it fixed the problem. I am a little reluctant to try that with Illustrator but if you think that might make a difference, I can certainly try it. Ahead of my trying to do that, do you happen to know where among the application files I can find the folder where the palette arrangements are stored (the way this type of customization is stored in InDesign)? I'd like to avoid having to reconstruct my palette arrangement again.
Thanks again and in advance for any further help.
Do you mean for it to work "at all" or just for that slider to become visible?
Attached is a screenshot of how the resolution is set through my Nvidia video card. It appears I have my resolution set high enough to be able to see what I need. I am using an HDMI connection, though. Would that make any diff? (I have a two-monitor set-up, and my second monitor is using the DVI connection on the card.)
If resolution was the problem, I'd expect it to show up in other programs or, at the very least, in other palettes in the same program. But it is only with this "effect" palette that I'm having the problem. I guess next stop will be Adobe tech support.
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