Getting familiar with Google NotebookLM
Your AI-First Notebook for personal use
I want to tell you about a powerful AI tool that:
is free if your location has access
runs in your browser
is private
can upload 50 sources per Notebook
the word limit per source is 500k words (a 300-page book will have approximately 82,500 words) You can put an entire book in one source document
after uploading, you can explore, synthesize, and generate insights from your personalized collection of files
uses Google Gemini 1.5 Pro to answer questions specific to your private collections of text notes, PDFs, and Google Documents to surface new perspectives inside your notes.
automatically generate summaries of your uploaded documents. This feature highlights key topics and suggests questions, making it easier to grasp the key ideas in a document.
Overview of Google NotebookLM
Google NotebookLM, in simpler terms, acts like a research assistant that can sift through your notes and sources, understand them, and then help you with tasks like summarizing information, answering your questions about the content, or even brainstorming new ideas, and creating new text formats like outlines, articles, or business plans based on what it finds.
For those of you anxious to dig in and learn more I recommend getting on the Google NotebookLM Discord server. Several exciting updates are coming that you will want to be the first to use. The product team is responding to a lot of great feedback to improve NotebookLM.
I want to call your attention to a fellow Substack Newsletter by Jeremy Caplan’s WonderTools which provides an excellent detailed overview of Google NotebookLM. He includes a summary of limitations of NotebookLM and I agree with his assessments. Google does not train using any of your source files but, always follow the rule of not putting anything online that you don’t want exposed. I agree with his sentiment that the current user interface does feel rather clunky but it’s not stopping people from using it.
For a quick start - go ahead and watch this video with Tiago Forte. He shows you visually how to use NotebookLM. You’ll be up and running in no time.
A more recent conversation about new features in Notebooklm is in this interview.
Getting started
Go here and sign in with your Google account - https://notebooklm.google.com
Once you’re in you will see the following Notebooks you can read and explore. The Introduction to NotebookLM will help get you oriented and it’s worth spending some time playing with this notebook first.
A few basics of the UI
You want to understand some of the basics of the user interface elements:
source documents
two types of Notes (written and saved responses)
the prompt window
Source documents are shown in a list on the left-hand side. You can add up to 50 source documents directly there as text, PDF or a Google Doc link. A substantial change in the number of file types is forthcoming.
More about the notes:
Written notes - custom notes you create on your own written or combined from prompt outputs
Saved response notes - from running prompts
You can combine notes to create a larger note of ideas you assemble to reference or write about later. That note can then become a new source document!
Additionally, at the bottom of the screen, you will find the prompt window with Gemini Pro 1.5 prompt suggestions. These are there to help speed up your process of digging into the meaning of what is stored away in the source files. I often find them a good starting point to engage my mind. For me, there is a sudden rush of excitement that comes from uncovering greater meaning in source documents. I like having a container (or notebook) to return to when I’m ready to dig in and learn more from the notes.
Exploring an idea
As a test, I found free PDFs to download from a website that specialized in books about the Stoics. I find the topic interesting and I wanted to learn more. Here is a peak of what it looks like in my Stoic Notebook. You can see I have some saved responses from prompting and I have a written note where I pasted a segment from one of the books to keep as a reference. You can view this Notebook yourself in viewer mode here. NotebookLM has an option for sharing in editor mode to collaborate with others.
Now the magic
Click on any document in the source list and NotebookLM will provide an instant summary and a list of key topics. This will always be there for you to review or copy segments out into a saved Note which is visible on the right. I find this more useful than using a traditional LLM. It’s faster and easier to find later and always in context with the other notes I’m reviewing.
The most enlightening aspects of using NotebookLM are shown below. You will notice two of the notes are selected. A saved response note (from a prompt) and a custom-written note. Immediately after you select one or more notes Notebook offers some suggestions to help you understand and deepen your study process.
These blue bubbles show up at the bottom of the display after you select one or more notes. I found the study guide bubble helpful when reviewing a set of notes before giving a presentation on a topic.
Summarizing the key features of Google Notebook LM
Summary generation: One of the standout features of Google Notebook LM is its ability to automatically generate summaries of your uploaded documents. This feature highlights key topics and suggests questions, making it easier to understand and digest complex information
Question & answer: Notebook LM allows users to ask specific questions about their documents and receive precise answers. This feature is particularly useful for delving deeper into your material and gaining a thorough understanding.
Idea generation: Beyond just answering questions, Notebook LM can help generate creative ideas based on the content you upload. This can enhance your creative process and inspire new ways of thinking.
Integration with Google Docs: Notebook LM seamlessly integrates with Google Docs, grounding its functionalities in the documents you already use and trust.
Document structuring: Notebook LM can also propose formats for creating structured documents like outlines and study guides. This helps in organizing your notes in a coherent and useful manner.
Now go have some fun! Try NotebookLM out yourself. Personally, the more I use this kind of software, the more uses start coming to mind. I feel certain we will see similar solutions from other vendors in time for AI-empowered notebooks of specific, personal collections of documents. Maybe we will see these become available in offline tools with offline LLM capability for even greater personal security.
Tom