Gemini Notebook
A chat that answers from the documents you give it, and shows you the passage each answer came from: the citation. Three panels, one idea: what it knows, what you ask, what it makes.
Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook. Sign in with your Google account at notebook.google.com.
Built from Google’s own Gemini Notebook help pages and a hands-on walkthrough by Futurepedia (August 2026).
It only knows what you gave it
Most AI chat answers from everything it has ever read.
By default, Gemini Notebook answers only from your sources.
Its weakness and its strength are the same thing: it works from what you gave it.
Sources
Give it the material, all of it
The left panel is the pile of documents it reads.
Anything in here is what the chat answers from.
- Got a PDF, a Doc, a deck, an image, an audio file? Upload it.
- Got a web page or a YouTube video? Paste the link.
- Not enough sources? Let it search the web and propose some.
- Working from a Doc or Sheet that keeps changing? Add it from Google Drive and it stays in sync.
Check anything it found for you before you keep it: thin sources give thin answers.
Chat
Ask it like a colleague who has read everything
The middle panel looks like any AI chat.
By default it only pulls from the sources on the left.
- Where did that come from? Click the citation and the passage opens on the left.
- Want it to answer from one document only? Deselect all the sources, then tick just that one.
- Answer worth keeping? Save it as a note, then make the note a source.
Interrogate the sources, do not just summarise them
On any topic with real nuance, run these three before you trust the sources. Copy them word for word. Replace [topic] with what your notebook is about.
- 1Other viewpoints
Are there any contrarian, alternative, or lesser-known viewpoints on [topic] that are not represented in these sources? Describe those viewpoints at a high level and find reputable sources that represent those perspectives.
- 2The gaps
Based on these sources, what important questions or subtopics about [topic] are missing or barely covered? List the biggest gaps that would need to be filled to really understand this topic well.
- 3The contradictions
Looking at all the sources in this notebook, identify any areas where the sources disagree with each other and any clear contradictions or conflicting claims.
Prompt 1 is allowed to leave the notebook and search the web for new sources. Save each answer as a note and make it a source.
Studio
Turn the same sources into something you can use
The right panel is where the notebook stops being a chat.
One set of sources, many formats.
- Want to listen instead of read? Audio Overview, a two-voice podcast from your sources.
- Presenting it? Slide deck, with a revise button for edits.
- Writing it up? Report, with angles suggested from your own sources.
- Numbers buried in the documents? Data table, straight to Google Sheets.
Also on the menu: a mind map, an infographic, flashcards and a quiz. Want Word or PowerPoint? Ask in the chat.
Join the podcast
Open an Audio Overview, click Interactive, and you can put a question to the two hosts, who respond to you and carry on.
Accuracy in Notebook, creativity in Gemini
Gemini is Google’s general chat app. Notebook is strict on purpose; sometimes you want the AI to think past the sources.
Your notebooks also appear inside the Gemini app, and changes sync both ways.
Open one there and the chat can search the web and use every Gemini tool, on top of your sources.
- Need a strict, cited answer? Stay in Notebook.
- Want to brainstorm, draft, or bring in the wider web? Open the same notebook in Gemini.
- Seeing your Gemini chats listed as sources back in Notebook? Untick them, they are not your documents.
One catch, from Google’s own help page: this Gemini step only works on a personal Google account (18 or over, not a work or school one) with Keep Activity, Google’s chat-history setting, switched on.
Your first notebook, in three moves
- 1
Pick one real job. Upload every document behind it. Not a summary, the real thing.
- 2
Run the three prompts. Other viewpoints, the gaps, the contradictions. Save each answer as a note. Now you know what your sources do not tell you.
- 3
Make one thing. Whichever one you would actually use this week.
Then ask it one question you already know the answer to, and check the citation. Do it every time an answer matters. That habit is the point of the General Instructions template →
- Sources: what it knows. Files, links, YouTube, Drive. Upload the real material.
- Chat: what you ask. Answers from your sources by default, each with a citation you can click. Check it.
- Studio: what it makes. Audio, slides, reports, tables, quizzes, from the same sources.
- The move that matters: three prompts, other viewpoints, the gaps, the contradictions. Run them before you trust anything.
- Need creativity? Open the same notebook in Gemini. Personal accounts only.
New to the Claude side of the toolkit? Start at Claude 101 → Want the asking itself to get sharper? How to Prompt →
The limits, if you ever hit one. Google moved off fixed daily counts on 2 September 2026. What you get now depends on how much work you ask for. Google keeps the current position on its own usage limits page.
Do it with someone. Everything here is free and you can run it alone. If you would rather work through it with me, one to one, book a free 30-minute chat or see lessons and prices. No pitch.