> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chronosphere.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Verify the Collector is receiving traces

Use the following methods to ensure the Chronosphere Collector is receiving trace
data.

## Trace Analyzer

[Trace Analyzer](/investigate/analyze/trace-analyzer) provides a real-time view of
incoming traces grouped by tag and their relative frequency. Use Trace Analyzer to
display the stream of incoming spans from your trace data.

1. In the navigation menu, click **<Icon icon="shield-user" /> Go to Admin**
   and then select
   **<Icon icon="microscope" /> Analyzers <span aria-label="and then">></span> Live Telemetry**.
2. Click the **Traces** tab.
3. Click **Capture live data** to display the stream of incoming spans. The default grouping
   shows spans by service (`__service__`), but you can include additional tags to group
   by such as `__trace_id__` and `__span_id__`.

## Trace Explorer

[Trace Explorer](/investigate/querying/traces) helps you search for traces
and spans so that you can identify, triage, and understand the root cause of
problems.

1. In the navigation menu select
   **<Icon icon="compass" /> Explorers <span aria-label="and then">></span> Trace Explorer**.
2. Modify the **Time Window** to the period when the Collector started ingesting
   trace data.

The timeline graph displays a spike at the time when trace data started flowing
into Chronosphere Observability Platform.