# Channel search and catalog

The MAX showcase is the public part of datool.ru that lists every public channel in the MAX messenger. Here you can find a channel by its title, @handle or link, see the largest channels, categories and the highlights of the day. You do not need to sign in.

Where to find it: the home page is [https://max.datool.ru/](https://max.datool.ru/), the channel catalog is [https://max.datool.ru/channels/](https://max.datool.ru/channels/) (the “Channels” menu item).

## Home page

The home page opens at [max.datool.ru](https://max.datool.ru/) and from any page when you click the datool logo and the “MAX analytics” caption in the header.

![MAX showcase home page: heading, search field, quick links and four totals on the right](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-home.webp)

### First screen

- **Search field** “Channel name or max.ru/… link” and the “Search” button — open the catalog with search results (how search works is described below, in “Searching for a channel”).
- **Quick links** under the field: “Ratings”, “Categories”, “Today”, “Collections”, “MAX statistics”.
- **Four totals** on the right — how much datool.ru has collected from public MAX channels:

| Tile | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Channels collected | how many MAX channels are in our database |
| Posts | how many posts of these channels we have collected |
| Views | total views of all collected posts |
| Reactions | total reactions (emoji) to these posts |

Large numbers are abbreviated, for example “546 bn”. Hover over a number to see the full value. The totals are recalculated every 10 minutes. If you see “Figures are being calculated in the background — refresh the page in a minute” under the tiles, refresh the page a little later.

### Largest MAX channels

The ten channels with the largest audience. Each row shows the place, avatar, channel title and @handle, the number of subscribers, the [quality index](/en/metrics/quality-index/) (a channel score from 0 to 100; a dash means it has not been calculated yet) and the main category linking to its page. “Full rating →” opens the [channel rating](/en/max/ratings/) with a hundred places.

![The “Largest MAX channels” block: ten rows with subscribers, quality index and category](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-home-top.webp)

### Channel categories

The twelve largest categories (topics) with a picture and the number of channels in each. Click a card to open the list of channels in that category. The “All 66 categories →” link opens the page with all categories. See [Categories and regions](/en/max/categories/).

![The “Channel categories” block: topic cards with pictures and channel counts](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-home-categories.webp)

### Trending today and Collections

- **Trending today** — the three most viewed posts of the last 24 hours: channel, time, beginning of the text, views and reactions. Click a post to open [its page](/en/max/post/). The “All … in 24 hours →” link opens [Today in MAX](/en/max/today/).
- **Collections** — ready-made channel lists (government channels, channels with the A+ label, verified by owners, million-subscriber channels, new channels) with the number of channels in each. What each collection contains is described in [Ratings and collections](/en/max/ratings/).

![The “Trending today” and “Collections” blocks on the home page](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-home-today.webp)

!!! note
    The “Largest channels”, “Categories”, “Trending today” and “Collections” blocks use data that is recalculated once an hour. Until the calculation is ready (for example, right after a site update), the block is not shown — refresh the page later.

### Cards at the bottom

![Three cards at the bottom of the home page: “Verify your channel”, “API.Max” and “MAX statistics”](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-home-features.webp)

- **“Verify your channel”** (for owners) — opens “My channels”. How to verify a channel and what you get — see [Verify that a channel is yours](/en/max/verification/).
- **“API.Max”** (for developers) — API description and pricing: channel data in your reports, services and AI assistants. The method reference is in the [API](/en/api/) section.
- **“MAX statistics”** — a page about MAX as a whole, see [MAX statistics](/en/max/stats/).

## Site header

The header is the same on every showcase page. The first row holds the logo, projects, search and buttons; the second row is the section menu.

![The MAX showcase header with numbered marks](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-header.webp)

1. **“MAX analytics”** — the project caption. Together with the logo it opens the showcase home page.
2. **“PROJECTS”** — the menu of datool.ru projects. MAX analytics is live now; other projects are marked “coming soon”. If your organization subscribes to a project, a “Subscription active” label is shown next to it.
3. **Channel search** — the “Search MAX channels: name, link or @handle” field. Press “/” on the keyboard to put the cursor into the search field from any page.
4. **“Sign in”** — sign in and sign up (see [Sign up and sign in](/en/start/signup/)). After you sign in, this button becomes “Account”. Its menu contains “Balance” (shown to the organization owner, with the remaining amount), “Subscriptions”, “Account” (the personal account), “Settings”, “My MAX”, switching between organizations (if you belong to several) and “Sign out”.
5. **Theme** — switches between the light and dark look. Your choice is remembered in the browser.
6. **Language** — the flag switches the interface between Russian and English.
7. **“+ Add a channel”** — add a public channel that we do not have yet. See [Add a channel](/en/max/add-channel/).
8. **“Demo channel”** — the page of an invented channel with every analytics tab open. See [Demo channel](/en/max/demo/).

**Section menu** (second row): “Channels” — the channel catalog, “Ratings”, “Collections”, “Today”, “Statistics”, “API” — API description and pricing, “Plans” — [subscriptions and prices](/en/start/plans/). The section you are in is underlined. On the right are “Knowledge base” (documentation, support, API, MCP) and “About us” (company, details, contacts, support, payment methods).

!!! note "On a phone"
    On a narrow screen search opens with the magnifier icon, “Add a channel” with the “+” icon, and the section menu and projects are hidden behind the menu button (three lines).

## Searching for a channel

You can search in three ways:

- **by title** — part of a word is enough: “spartak” finds every channel with that word in the title;
- **by @handle** — the channel’s public name in MAX, with or without “@”;
- **by link** — paste an address like `https://max.ru/channel_name` to find exactly that channel.

Letter case does not matter. Only public channels are searched. Private channels and group chats are not in the catalog.

### Suggestions in the header

Start typing in the header search field and a list of channels appears below it. Suggestions appear once you have typed at least 3 characters (a link or @handle is searched immediately).

![Search suggestions in the header: a list of channels with avatar, @handle and subscriber count](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-search-suggest.webp)

- The list shows up to 8 channels, largest first: avatar, title, @handle and number of subscribers. Click a row to open the channel page.
- If there are more channels, an “All results →” link appears at the bottom — it opens the catalog with the same query.
- Pressing Enter also opens the catalog with the results.
- If nothing is found, you will see “We don't have this channel yet. Check the spelling or paste a link to the channel in MAX.”

### Channel catalog

The catalog is [max.datool.ru/channels/](https://max.datool.ru/channels/) (the “Channels” menu item). Search from the home page and Enter in the header search field lead here too.

![Channel catalog with search results: the number of channels found and channel cards](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-catalog-results.webp)

How to use it:

1. Type part of a title, an @handle or a max.ru/… link into the “Title or link” field.
2. Click “Search”.
3. A line above the cards shows how many channels were found. Up to 30 channels are shown, largest first. If there are exactly 30, the line adds “the largest are shown, refine your query” — add more words to narrow the search.

If the query is shorter than 3 characters, the catalog does not search and asks you to type at least 3 characters.

**Channel card** (the same card is used on category, region and collection pages):

| Part of the card | What it is |
|---|---|
| Avatar, title, @handle | click to open the [channel page](/en/channel/overview/) with analytics |
| Description | the first 160 characters of the channel description from MAX |
| Labels | the channel’s main category and territory; click to open the list of channels in that category or region |
| Subscribers | the number of subscribers at the last check of the channel |
| Posts collected | how many of the channel’s posts are in our database. We collect the whole history of a channel from its first post, so for recently found channels this number grows for a while |

!!! note
    Without a query the catalog shows only the search form. To browse channels by topic or city, open [categories and regions](/en/max/categories/); the largest channels are in the [ratings](/en/max/ratings/).

### If the channel was not found

![Catalog: nothing found, “We do not have this channel yet”](https://media.datool.ru/docs/guide/en/max-catalog-empty.webp)

“We do not have this channel yet” means no public channel matches the query. What to do:

1. Check the spelling — or paste the channel link from MAX instead of the title.
2. If the channel is public but missing from the catalog, add it yourself on the [Add a channel](/en/max/add-channel/) page — it is free and needs no sign-in.
3. A private channel does not get into the catalog: it can only be connected through owner verification, see [Verify that a channel is yours](/en/max/verification/).

## See also

- [Categories and regions](/en/max/categories/) — channels by topic and territory
- [Ratings and collections](/en/max/ratings/) — the largest and most cited channels
- [Channel page](/en/channel/overview/) — what channel analytics shows
- [Add a channel](/en/max/add-channel/)