# How to Share a Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)
> How to share NotebookLM notebooks with up to 50 people, by public link or chat view. Learn Viewer vs Editor, Audio Overview links and work account rules.
By Juli · Published Oct 26, 2026 · https://www.kortex-notebooklm.com/blog/how-to-share-gemini-notebook
Research is more useful when someone else can see it. This guide shows how to share a Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM): a whole notebook, a public link or a single Audio Overview. However, each option exposes something different. Get it wrong and a classmate can't get in, or a stranger digs into sources you meant to keep in the background. Here's how each sharing option works, what paid plans add, and how to reach people who don't use Google at all.
> **Key Takeaways**
> - Select Share for Viewer or Editor access, up to 50 people on a personal Gmail account ([Gemini Notebook Help](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16206563?hl=en), 2026).
> - Anyone with a link makes a notebook public.
> - Chat view hides sources but doesn't block them.
> - Workspace admins decide on outside sharing.
## Can you share a Gemini Notebook?
Yes, in three ways. First, share privately by email with Viewer or Editor access, or publicly with an Anyone with a link setting. You can also share a single Studio output, such as an Audio Overview, by link (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Anyone opening a shared notebook needs to be signed in to a Google account.
| Option | Who can open it | What they can do |
|---|---|---|
| Viewer | People you add by email | Read sources and notes, ask questions |
| Editor | People you add by email | Add or remove sources and notes, generate outputs, share further |
| Public link | Anyone with the link and a Google account | Ask questions, view outputs made by owners and editors |
| Output link | Anyone with the link, if the notebook is public | View that one output, even signed out |
**A viewer** is someone with read-only access to the sources and notes you shared. **An editor** is someone who can also add or remove sources and notes and share the notebook further.
### How to share a notebook with a class
Sharing with a whole class? Google Classroom has its own route. Open Classwork, select Create, then Gemini Notebook, and create or attach a notebook ([Classroom Help](https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/16534159?hl=en), 2026). Students can chat with it and use the Studio items you made, such as Audio Overviews and study guides, but they can't add sources or generate new items. One notebook can serve several classes. However, an admin has to turn Gemini Notebook on for teachers and students, and personal Google accounts can't open these assignments. Outside Classroom, a shared link works too. People you share with can copy the notebook when Allow copies is on, and Google's own example is a student who copies a teacher's notebook to add study notes and practice quizzes ([Google Workspace Updates](https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2026/08/make-copy-of-notebook-in-gemini-notebook.html), 2026). Our guide to [Gemini Notebook for teachers](/blog/gemini-notebook-for-teachers) covers classroom setups and what students see.
## How do you share a notebook with specific people?
Open the notebook, select Share and add each person's email address with Viewer or Editor access (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Personal Gmail accounts can share a notebook with up to 50 users, but they can't share with Google Groups. Viewers get read-only access; as a result, they can't change your sources or notes.
1. Open the notebook and select **Share**.
2. Add an email address and choose **Viewer** or **Editor**.
3. Optional: tick **Allow copies** so they can duplicate the notebook with its sources and outputs.
4. Select **Save**, or copy the link and send it yourself.
Editors can do nearly everything you can. For example, they add and remove sources and notes, generate Audio Overviews and other outputs, and share the notebook further. Your chat history is kept private to you, though ([Gemini Notebook Help](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16179559?hl=en), 2026). In other words, collaborators see your sources, notes and outputs, never your questions.
A simple rule for roles: give Editor only to people you'd trust to delete a source, because they can. Everyone else, in contrast, gets Viewer. And if someone only needs answers, send the chat view link instead, which opens the notebook as a focused chat. Fewer editors also means fewer surprise outputs appearing in your Studio.
## How do you make a Gemini Notebook public?
Select Share, set access to Anyone with a link, then copy the link ([Gemini Notebook Help](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16322204?hl=en), 2026). Anyone with a Google account can open it, ask questions and view outputs that owners or editors made. A globe icon next to the Share button then confirms it's public. Conversely, to undo it, set access back to Restricted.
Only owners and editors can create or remove a public link. Edits show up for visitors without a new link. Similarly, once the notebook is deleted or made private, old links stop working. In addition, the notebook lands on each visitor's homepage, where they can remove it. One limit: you can't make a notebook public if it has outputs created from Play Books ebooks.
Treat chat view as a layout, not a lock. The Copy link to chat view option hides sources and outputs for a focused experience. But Google says it doesn't completely revoke a viewer's access, and viewers may still find the hidden material. Therefore, if a source shouldn't be seen, remove it before you share. Before anything goes public, it's worth reading up on [what Google does with notebook data](/blog/gemini-notebook-privacy).
## How do you share an Audio Overview or other output?
Open the Audio Overview player, select Share and copy the link ([Gemini Notebook Help](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16212820?hl=en), 2026). It only works once the notebook is shared with that person or public, with viewers given access to the full notebook. Video Overviews, Slide Decks, Infographics and reports share the same way. Delete the output, however, and its link stops working.
You've got two other routes, in fact. Share the whole notebook, and the recipient finds the Audio Overview in the Studio panel. Alternatively, select Download and send the audio file. Recipients can't use interactive mode through your link, so they can't join the conversation with the hosts. Want the audio polished before it goes out? Our guide to [making a podcast in Gemini Notebook](/blog/notebooklm-podcast) covers formats and prompts.
What about people who don't use Google at all? If you own a public notebook, Google says anyone with the link to a shared output can view it, even if they aren't signed in (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). That covers slide decks, Audio Overviews, reports and other Studio items. Beyond that, downloads are the native route out, and each output type has its own format. In particular, a Slide Deck is the most portable, since it opens in PowerPoint or any PDF reader:
| Output | Download or export as |
|---|---|
| Audio Overview | An audio file, via Download on the web |
| Video Overview | A video file |
| Slide Deck | PDF or PowerPoint (.pptx) |
| Infographic | PNG |
| Flashcards | CSV |
| Notes and reports | Google Docs, with data tables going to Sheets |
Importantly, exported Docs and Sheets don't inherit sharing permissions from Gemini Notebook, so share those files separately. For anyone outside Google, a file or a feed they already use beats one more sign-in.
## Can you share outside your organization?
Work and school sharing follows your admin's rules. Admins have four sharing settings ([Google Workspace Updates](https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2026/09/manage-external-sharing-for-gemini-notebook-in-the-Admin-console.html), 2026). Sharing, notably, stays inside the domain by default. Admins can instead allow trusted domains, any external email, or public notebooks too.
Admins find the setting in the Admin console under Menu, Generative AI, then Gemini Notebook, and changes can take up to 24 hours ([Google Workspace Admin Help](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/generative-ai/gemini-notebook/manage-gemini-notebook-sharing-settings), 2026). One more quirk: when a notebook is shared with a group, members get no welcome email or notification. As a result, you should send the link yourself.
We found a mismatch from our research into Google's help pages while fact-checking this post. The Audio Overview, Video Overview and Infographic help pages say public sharing is disabled for Workspace Enterprise and Education accounts. In contrast, the Admin console's sharing settings let admins switch it on. Can't find Anyone with a link on a work account? Your admin's setting, not the help page, decides it. Specifically, Google's Admin Help describes an extra option to let users make notebooks available to anyone with the link, and it only appears once external sharing is set to On. Consequently, two people at the same company can see different Share menus if their organizational units have different settings. Our [Gemini Notebook for business guide](/blog/gemini-notebook-for-business) covers team rollouts.
## Why is the Share button missing or not working?
Usually one of five documented rules is blocking it. Notebooks that contain Gemini chats are private and can't be shared at all ([Gemini Notebook Help](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/17003757?hl=en), 2026). On a work or school account, external sharing is off by default, so an outside address fails until your admin picks Trusted Domains, On, or On with public notebook sharing. Public links also stay off when a notebook has outputs made from Play Books ebooks. Meanwhile, personal Gmail accounts top out at 50 people and can't share with Google Groups. Finally, admin changes can take up to 24 hours to reach you, so a fix made this morning may not show until tomorrow. If none of those fit, check that you're the owner or an editor, since viewers can't share further. We analyzed 1,451 Google autocomplete suggestions in October 2026, and 36 of them were about sharing notebooks, including "notebooklm share button missing" and "notebooklm sharing not working". Clearly, plenty of people hit these walls.
## What do paid plans add to sharing?
Paid plans add advanced sharing. Google's plan table lists advanced sharing for paid users, and says custom chat and analytics are available to everyone ([Gemini Notebook Help](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16213268?hl=en), 2026). Sharing doesn't raise anyone's limits either; in other words, a shared notebook doesn't change the source limit for any collaborator.
Analytics show two numbers for the past seven days: users per day and queries per day, both counting you. They only appear once a notebook is shared with at least 4 other users and has had chat activity in the past 7 days. Additionally, they update about every 24 hours. For public notebooks, specifically, the analytics tab is for owners with paid subscriptions.
So what does advanced sharing actually cover? Google doesn't define it on that page. 9to5Google's coverage of public links listed chat-only sharing for viewers and usage analytics as paid extras ([9to5Google](https://9to5google.com/2025/06/03/notebooklm-public-links/), 2025), but Google's plan table lists custom chat and analytics for everyone. Check the plan table before you pay for it.
## What do the lock and globe icons mean?
The share menu shows one of 3 icons. A lock means it's private and shared with no one. The shared icon means you've added individual people, and a globe means it's public ([Gemini Notebook Help](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16269187?hl=en), 2026). Glance at it before you add anything sensitive to a notebook.
Two more rules are easy to miss. Shared notebooks don't appear in the Gemini app, even ones you own. In addition, notebooks that contain Gemini chats are private and can't be shared (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Sharing dozens of notebooks? Our system for [organizing 50+ Gemini notebooks](/blog/organize-notebooklm-notebooks) keeps them easy to track.
## How do you reach people who don't use Google?
**Kortex** is a free Chrome extension that exports what's already in a notebook, so people without Google access can read it. We built it for exactly this hand-off, and its users have run 200,000+ exports (Kortex, 2026). Sources, notes and chats become PDF or Markdown files you can email, print or post anywhere, for instance in a team wiki or a course page. The free plan includes 10 exports a day.
- **Send the reading pack:** export every source, or every Studio note and output at once, as PDF, Markdown or ZIP.
- **Share the conversation:** export a whole chat, or only the replies you tick, as Markdown, text, PDF or JSON, with or without your own questions.
- **Share audio as a podcast:** on Pro, each podcast gets a private RSS feed for Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts or Overcast, with 1,000 minutes of audio.
Why does this matter? From our research into the Kortex MCP waitlist, sharing is a real but narrow need. We analyzed 776 survey answers from September and October 2026, and 13 people asked to share notebooks with a team. Notably, 8 of those 13 (62%) are on Kortex Pro, and one wrote "I want much more flexibility to share notebook created content". A larger group, 72 people, wanted notes and outputs back out of their notebooks, which is the same problem from the other side. Kortex covers that half with exports. That said, Kortex has no shared team workspaces. Pro costs $9.99 a month or $4.92 a month billed yearly ([Kortex pricing](/#pricing), 2026). For every format and when to use it, see our guide to [exporting Gemini Notebook](/blog/export-gemini-notebook). If your team reads in Notion or Obsidian instead, Kortex MCP, included with Kortex Pro and Lifetime, lets Claude or ChatGPT [send notebook notes and outputs to Notion or Obsidian](/blog/gemini-notebook-to-notion-obsidian).
Google's Share button covers people with Google accounts. For everyone else, Kortex turns sources, notes, chats and audio into files and feeds they can open anywhere.
## Frequently asked questions
### Can you share a Gemini Notebook with others?
Yes. Select Share to give people Viewer or Editor access by email, or set access to Anyone with a link to make the notebook public. Personal Gmail accounts can share a notebook with up to 50 users, and anyone opening a shared notebook must be signed in to a Google account.
### What's the difference between Viewer and Editor in Gemini Notebook?
A viewer gets read-only access to the sources and notes in a shared notebook. An editor can also add or remove sources and notes, generate Studio outputs and share the notebook further. Either way, your own chat history stays private to you, so collaborators never see your questions.
### How do I share a Gemini Notebook Audio Overview?
Open the Audio Overview player and select Share. The notebook must already be shared with the recipient or public, with access to the full notebook, before you copy the link. You can also share the whole notebook, or select Download and send the audio file itself.
### Can you share a notebook with someone without a Google account?
Not the notebook itself. Anyone opening a shared notebook must be signed in to a Google account. Output links from a public notebook, such as an Audio Overview link, open even for people who aren't signed in, and downloaded or exported files reach everyone else.
### Can you share your Gemini Notebook chat history?
Not directly. Google says chat history is kept private to you, so people you share a notebook with see your sources, notes and outputs, never your questions. To pass on an answer, select Save to note on the reply, which keeps its inline citations, or export the chat with an extension like Kortex.
### Can I share a notebook with people outside my work or school?
Only if your admin allows it. Workspace admins have four options: sharing inside the domain only, which is the default, sharing with trusted domains, sharing with any external email, or also allowing public notebooks.
### Why does my notebook show a lock or a globe icon?
The lock means the notebook is private and not shared with anyone. It changes to the shared icon once you share it with individual people, and to a globe when it's public. The globe also appears next to the Share button, so you can confirm a public notebook at a glance.
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*Editorial note: fact-checked against the official help pages and docs linked above on October 26, 2026. Spotted something out of date? [Contact us](/support) and we will fix it, or read more [about Kortex](/about).*