Getting Started with Kortex for NotebookLM

Key Takeaways

• Knowledge workers spend an average of 1.8 hours per day searching for information they already have (McKinsey, 2022). NotebookLM cuts that time, but it still traps your research inside with no export or organization tools.
• Kortex adds export, import, automation, and organization directly inside NotebookLM — no separate app, no data leaving your browser.
• Setup takes under 2 minutes: install on Chrome, sign in with Google, and your first export is one click away.
• The free tier covers 10 exports and 10 imports per day — enough for most research sessions without a paid plan.

What is NotebookLM missing?

Google’s NotebookLM reached over 17 million monthly active users by late 2025, according to Academic Jobs. The growth makes sense: feed it PDFs, docs, YouTube videos, and it returns grounded, citation-backed answers that only draw from what you’ve uploaded. No hallucinations. Just focused analysis of your specific document set.

The gap shows up the moment you need to act on that research.

Say you’ve spent two hours building a literature review in NotebookLM — 20 papers uploaded, a Briefing Doc generated, a conversation that surfaced the key contradictions in the literature. Now you want to share that Briefing Doc with a colleague, paste the key quotes into your paper, or archive the session before you close the tab.

You can’t do any of it.

• No export. The PDFs and notes you uploaded are locked in. Your chat history disappears when you close the tab.
• No prompt library. You retype the same research questions every session with no way to save them.
• No organization layer. 50 notebooks, no tags, no folders, no search across all of them.
• No automation. Every step is manual, every time.

Google built NotebookLM as a research assistant, not a knowledge operating system. That distinction matters more as your notebook count grows. Kortex fills the gaps that fall outside that scope — without replacing or modifying how NotebookLM itself works. For a head-to-head breakdown of what each tool does natively, the Kortex vs NotebookLM comparison covers the exact feature gaps.

What is Kortex?

Kortex is a browser extension that adds export, import, automation, and organization features directly inside NotebookLM. It runs on Chrome, Edge, Brave, and all Chromium-based browsers.

Nothing leaves your browser. No separate app, no account migration, no data sync to a third-party server. Install it, sign in once, and the new features appear inside NotebookLM automatically. The extension reads the NotebookLM interface and adds UI elements to it: a download button in the source panel, a sidebar for tags and collections, a prompt library drawer. Uninstalling it leaves your NotebookLM workspace completely unchanged.

What can Kortex do?

Kortex adds four capabilities NotebookLM doesn’t have natively: universal export, universal import, an automation suite, and a full organization layer. Each solves a specific gap — and they compound. With all four active, a notebook can have a Briefing Doc auto-generated, be tagged, filed into a collection, and have its sources exported without a single manual step between creation and archive.

Universal Export: unlock your data

The most-requested feature in the NotebookLM community. By default, nothing you put into NotebookLM can come back out — not your uploaded sources, not your chat history, not the Briefing Docs or Study Guides it generates. Kortex changes all of that.

You can export:

• Sources — individual files or entire notebooks as PDF, Markdown, plain text, or ZIP
• Chat conversations — your full dialogue with citations intact, as Markdown, PDF, or JSON
• Artifacts — the Briefing Docs, Study Guides, and FAQs that NotebookLM generates

Citations stay intact in exports. If NotebookLM cited a passage from your source, that reference remains in the exported Markdown or PDF. Researchers can paste Briefing Docs straight into Obsidian or Notion. Students can export session notes as structured study guides. Teams can share NotebookLM output without granting access to the underlying notebook.

One important clarification: Kortex doesn’t add formatted bibliography output (APA, MLA, Chicago) since NotebookLM itself doesn’t generate structured citations. What it preserves is the inline source trail NotebookLM includes in its responses.

Universal Import: bring content from anywhere

Copy-pasting into NotebookLM is slow. Kortex adds faster sourcing methods for wherever you’re working online.

• Highlight and Snipe — right-click any selected text on any webpage to send it directly to a specific notebook
• Social media — import threads from X/Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn in one click
• Chat history — import conversations from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity
• Google Docs — bulk sync entire folders or individual docs

The most useful of these in practice is Highlight and Snipe. When you’re scanning a journal database or reading a news article and spot a passage worth keeping, you don’t need to switch tabs, find the right notebook, and paste. Right-click and it goes where you want it. This single habit, done consistently, eliminates most copy-paste friction from sourcing.

Automation Suite: set it and forget it

This is where Kortex separates from other NotebookLM tools. Rather than adding buttons you click manually, it lets you define rules that run on their own. The format is simple: when X happens, do Y.

The value isn’t in any single rule. It’s in combinations: a new notebook gets created, a Briefing Doc generates automatically, the notebook files itself into the right collection, and a stale-detection timer starts. Steps that’d normally take 10-15 manual minutes happen without any input. For a deep look at the most powerful combinations, the guide to 10 Kortex automation workflows covers setups for researchers, content creators, and knowledge workers with exact trigger-action configurations.

Audio Studio: turn your notes into a podcast

NotebookLM’s Audio Overview generates a podcast-style conversation between two AI hosts who discuss your sources. It’s useful for absorbing complex material hands-free during a commute or walk. Kortex adds the infrastructure to make it a real listening habit:

• Personal RSS feed — subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Pocket Casts
• Built-in player — speed control from 1x to 3x, progress tracking, background play across tabs
• Auto-sync — new overviews appear in your feed via the Podcast Pipeline automation

Knowledge Organization

Within a few months of regular use, most NotebookLM power users accumulate 50+ notebooks. The default flat list becomes a navigation problem fast. Kortex adds a full organization layer directly inside the interface:

• Collections — group notebooks into named folders by project, client, or topic
• Color-coded tags — apply labels like #research, #urgent, #client, #archive
• Smart Search — real-time search across all notebook titles, tags, and collections
• Prompt Library — save, organize, and insert your best prompts with one click
• Source Views — custom filters, like “show only PDFs added this week”

For a complete naming, tagging, and collection system that scales past 100 notebooks, the guide to organizing 50+ NotebookLM notebooks covers a three-tier approach used by research-heavy teams.

How do you get started with Kortex?

Setup takes under 3 minutes. Here’s the exact sequence:

Step 1 — Install

Add Kortex to Chrome (also works on Edge and Brave). The extension installs in under a minute and activates automatically on notebooklm.google.com. No settings changes needed.

Step 2 — Sign in

Click the Kortex icon in your browser toolbar and sign in with your Google account. This activates your free Basic tier and syncs your settings across devices.

Step 3 — Export your first notebook

Open any NotebookLM notebook. New buttons appear in the source panel header. Click Download All to export everything as a ZIP — or select individual sources and choose PDF, Markdown, or plain text.

Most users have their first export done within 3 minutes of installing.

First week setup checklist

Once you’ve confirmed export works, these five steps get you to full productivity within your first week:

1. Save 3 prompts to the Prompt Library. Open the Prompt Library drawer, paste in your 2-3 most-used research questions, and name each one. Every prompt is then one click to insert. This pays back quickly — most users retype the same 3-4 prompts in every session.

2. Set up the Auto-Researcher automation. In the Automation panel, create a rule: “When a notebook is created → Generate Briefing Doc.” Every new notebook gets a summary automatically. No more forgetting to run it after uploading sources.

3. Create 3-4 Collections. Think about how you actually organize work: by project, client, topic, or status. Create those Collections first, then assign your existing notebooks to them. Five to eight Collections is enough for most workspaces.

4. Tag your 5 most active notebooks. Apply at minimum a status tag (#active, #reference, or #archive) and a type tag (#research, #client, #personal). These two tags are enough to make filtering useful right away.

5. Try Highlight and Snipe once. During your next web browsing session, select a passage on any page and right-click. Send it to an active notebook. One use is enough to make it a permanent habit.

What does Kortex cost?

Kortex is free to start — no credit card required. The Basic tier’s 10 daily exports and 10 daily imports cover most individual research sessions without any cost. Researchers and teams who export regularly, run automation chains, or need unlimited Prompt Library slots move to Pro or Lifetime. There are no usage caps on AI features (those are governed by your NotebookLM tier, not Kortex).

Pro and Lifetime unlock Google Docs Sync, source deletion, all automation features, and Podcast Feed System: Stream your notebooks as audio (1,000 min free). See full pricing →

What’s on the Kortex roadmap?

Kortex ships new features regularly. See what’s planned, vote on features, and follow progress on the public roadmap.

Frequently asked questions

Does Kortex work on Safari or Firefox?

Not yet. Kortex currently supports Chrome, Edge, Brave, and all Chromium-based browsers. Firefox support is on the roadmap.

Does Kortex send my data to a third-party server?

No. Kortex operates entirely inside your browser. Your NotebookLM data doesn’t pass through Kortex servers. The extension reads and writes to the NotebookLM interface directly — your notebooks, sources, and conversations stay in your browser session.

What happens to my exports if I cancel my subscription?

Your existing exports are yours. Canceling a paid plan moves you back to the Basic tier (10 exports and 10 imports per day), but you keep everything you’ve already exported.

Can I use Kortex’s Prompt Library to save the research prompts I use most?

Yes. The Prompt Library lets you save any prompt, organize prompts by category, and insert them directly inside NotebookLM with one click. For a set of prompts worth saving immediately, see the guide to 17 NotebookLM prompts for deep research.

Is Kortex affiliated with Google?

No. Kortex is an independent browser extension, not made by or affiliated with Google. It adds a UI layer on top of the NotebookLM web app.

Does Kortex work with NotebookLM Plus?

Yes. Kortex works with both free and Plus tiers of NotebookLM. Plus users get higher source limits and more Audio Overviews per month. Kortex’s export, organization, and automation features layer on top of whichever tier you’re using.

What’s the most useful first automation to set up?

Auto-Researcher — the rule that generates a Briefing Doc whenever a new notebook is created. It’s the most universally useful automation because it front-loads analysis. By the time you’ve finished uploading sources, a structured summary is already waiting. From there, the Kortex automation workflows guide has nine more patterns worth configuring.

Can I use Kortex for team research workflows?

Yes, with one caveat. NotebookLM supports notebook sharing, so a team can collaborate on a shared source set. Kortex adds export so each team member can pull their own copy of the Briefing Doc, chat history, or source list. What Kortex doesn’t add is real-time collaboration within the extension itself — it’s single-user per installation.

For step-by-step setup help, visit the Kortex documentation. For anything else, the Kortex support page has you covered.