How to Use Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) in 2026

Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) looks simple: a sources panel, a chat box and a Studio full of buttons. Then you open it and wonder what to click first. This tutorial shows how to use Gemini Notebook from the very first click, in order. You’ll sign in, build a notebook, ask questions you can check, save the good answers, and turn your material into audio, slides and quizzes. Then we’ll cover the beginner mistakes worth skipping.

Key Takeaways

• Sign in at notebook.google.com. Free accounts get 100 notebooks with 50 sources each (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026).
• Every answer cites your sources, so you can check it.
• The Studio turns sources into audio, video, slides and quizzes.
• Usage refreshes every five hours, up to a weekly limit.

What do you need to use Gemini Notebook?

You need a Google account, a browser and something to read. Google’s checklist adds two things: verify your age in your Google Account, and be in one of the 180+ regions where the Gemini app is available (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). On a work or school account, however, an admin has to turn it on. That said, the free tier is plenty for learning, so don’t pay for anything yet. Sign in at notebook.google.com. Notably, old bookmarks still work: when we checked on October 1, 2026, notebooklm.google.com sent us straight to the new address. Still fuzzy on what the tool does? Read what Gemini Notebook is first. If the page won’t load or sign-in stalls, our fixes for when Gemini Notebook is not working cover the usual causes.

How do you create your first notebook?

A notebook is a collection of sources for one project, and Google’s help says each one is independent (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). In other words, a notebook can’t see what’s in your other notebooks. Each source can hold up to 500,000 words or 200MB, and a free notebook takes up to 50 sources (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Here’s the order to follow:

1. Go to notebook.google.com and select Create new notebook.
2. Add a source. In the pop-up, select Upload a source, or search the web or Google Drive for new ones.
3. Read the summary. Once something’s in, the chat panel shows a generated summary of everything you uploaded.
4. Add more later with + Add in the Sources panel.

Keep one project per notebook. For example, a notebook for Biology and another for Chemistry beats one giant School notebook, because every answer stays focused.

It takes PDFs, Word, text, Markdown, CSV and PowerPoint files, Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, web links, public YouTube videos, audio, images and ePub files. A few catch beginners out, however. Web pages import as text only, and paywalled ones aren’t supported. Likewise, YouTube videos need captions, because only the transcript comes in. Drive files, in contrast, sync every few minutes, so edits to the original show up in your notebook.

How do you ask questions and check citations?

Type a question and Gemini Notebook answers from your sources, using direct quotes as inline citations (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Hover over a citation to read the full quote, or select it to jump to the passage. Four habits make the answers better:

1. Ask something specific. Google’s own example names the document: “What are the key findings about dog training in the ‘Dog Training 101’ document?” beats “Summarize this source.”
2. Check the citations before you reuse an answer anywhere.
3. Tick only the sources you need. Select individual sources in the Sources panel, and the chat sticks to them.
4. Pick a style. Select Configure Chat, choose Default, Learning Guide or Custom, and set a response length. Learning Guide, in particular, is built for studying.

Ticking fewer sources does double duty. It keeps citations inside the documents you trust for that question. In addition, it makes the request lighter: since September 2026, the number of sources is one of the factors in your usage limit (Google, 2026). Big notebook, small question? Untick the rest, and borrow a ready-made prompt from our 30 best Gemini Notebook prompts. Once a question works, you’ll want it again in the next notebook, without digging through old chats.

How do you save answers as notes?

When an answer is worth keeping, select Save to note. A notebook holds up to 1,000 notes, and saved answers keep their tables and clickable citations (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Saved answers can’t be edited, however. Alternatively, for your own thoughts, select Add note in the Studio panel and type. Notes stay out of the chat unless you select them, while your sources are always in play, either all of them or the ones you’ve ticked. As a result, notes make a safe scratchpad. Conversely, when a note should shape answers, open it and select Convert to source. Want notes somewhere else? Each note’s three-dot menu in the Studio panel exports it to Google Docs, or its tables to Sheets. For example, save a clean summary once and stop asking the same question twice.

One warning: Google’s FAQ says there’s currently no way to recover deleted notes, so think before you clear the board. For Notion or Obsidian, our guide to moving notebook notes into Notion and Obsidian shows how an AI assistant can carry them over through Kortex MCP, a private beta for invited Kortex Pro members.

What can you make in the Studio panel?

The Studio panel is where Gemini Notebook turns your sources into new formats, and it offers nine kinds of output, from notes and Audio Overviews to Slide Decks and Infographics (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Select one to generate it with default settings, or select the pencil icon to set the language, length or focus first. Meanwhile, outputs build in the background as you keep working.

Output	What you get	Good to know
Audio Overview	An AI-hosted Deep Dive, Brief, Critique or Debate on your sources	Works in 80+ languages, and you can download it.
Video Overview	A narrated video: Explainer, Short (about 60 seconds) or Cinematic	Can take over 30 minutes to make. Cinematic is 18+.
Mind Map	A branching diagram of your topics	Start it from the Mind Map chip in the chat.
Report	Study guide, briefing doc, FAQ or your own format	Exports to Google Docs.
Flashcards and Quizzes	Easy, medium or hard	Flashcards download as a CSV file.
Slide Deck	A Detailed Deck or Presenter Slides	18+. Downloads as PDF or PowerPoint.
Infographic	A one-page visual summary	18+. Downloads as PNG.
Data Table	Rows and columns pulled from sources	Exports to Google Sheets.

Not sure which to pick? Match the output to the job. Use Flashcards or a Quiz for recall, because testing yourself beats rereading. In a classic Science study, repeated testing produced a large boost in delayed recall, while repeated studying after learning had no effect (Karpicke and Roediger, 2008). Pick the Brief format for a quick audio refresher, a Mind Map to see how a topic hangs together, and Presenter Slides when you’ll talk over them. Similarly, a Data Table suits anything you’d otherwise copy into a spreadsheet by hand. Additionally, an Audio Overview suits a commute, since the mobile app can download it for offline listening. Our guide to studying with Gemini Notebook goes deeper on flashcards and quizzes.

Can you share notebooks and use them on your phone?

Select Share, add someone’s email and choose Viewer or Editor. Viewers get read-only access to sources and notes, while editors can add or remove them and share further (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Personal Gmail accounts can share a notebook with up to 50 people. Additionally, you can set access to Anyone with a link for a public notebook. Public links and chat-only views each have quirks, so open a link in a private window before you post it.

The apps need iOS 17 or Android 10 and up (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). They handle on-the-go jobs well. For instance, you can chat, download Audio Overviews for offline listening, flip through flashcards, and add a web page, PDF or YouTube video from your phone’s share menu. However, notes, Mind Maps, reports and data tables aren’t in the app yet. Our guide to the Gemini Notebook app covers what works where.

How to use Gemini Notebook effectively

The classic beginner mistake is treating it like a general chatbot. Gemini Notebook answers from the information in your sources, and if the answer isn’t there, it won’t give one (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). That design makes it more reliable than a chatbot, but not perfect. In a 2025 study of a 300-document reporting task, 13% of NotebookLM outputs contained at least one hallucination, against about 40% for ChatGPT and Gemini (Hagar et al., 2025). Most errors weren’t invented facts. Instead, the models stretched what a source actually said. Therefore, a few plain habits matter more than any clever prompt, and people clearly want them. When we analyzed 1,451 Google autocomplete suggestions about the tool in October 2026, “effectively” and “to study” were the top two completions after “how to use notebooklm”.

Asking vague questions in a big notebook. It retrieves the passages most relevant to your question first, then writes the answer. Thus, naming the source and the topic helps it find better passages.

Skipping the citations. Why guess when the quote is one hover away? A quick check catches a stretched claim before it lands in your essay.

Uploading what it can’t read. Copy-protected PDFs, paywalled pages and YouTube videos without captions won’t import. Paste the text in instead when you can.

Deleting notes you still need. Deleted notes are gone for good, hence the rule: copy anything that matters first.

Keep an eye on usage limits

Since September 2, 2026, limits are compute-based and refresh every five hours until you reach a weekly limit (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Google AI Plus gets two times the standard limits, and Google AI Pro gets four times. The cost of each request depends on how complex the prompt is, which models and features you use, and how long the chat runs. In fact, a long chat over a big notebook burns more than a short, focused question. Check your balance under Settings, then Usage. Out of room on the web? Generate later queues the output, and it can take a couple of hours to arrive. Consequently, it pays to untick sources you don’t need before a long session. Our usage limits guide compares every plan.

How does Kortex make Gemini Notebook easier to use?

Kortex is a Chrome extension we built to add the import, organizing and export tools Gemini Notebook leaves out, and more than 130,000 people use it (Kortex, 2026). It runs inside notebook.google.com, so nothing about your notebooks changes. Importantly, getting material in and out is the slow part. When we analyzed the 776 answers to our Kortex MCP waitlist survey in September and October 2026, 244 people, or 31%, described a manual copy-and-paste workaround. The free plan covers 10 imports and 10 exports a day:

• Send chats in. An import button inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity sends a conversation to a notebook, with prompts and replies labelled.
• Clip as you read. Right-click selected text on any page to send it with the page link and date.
• Reuse good prompts. A saved prompt library keeps your best questions one click away.
• Keep copies. Export sources, notes and chats as PDF or Markdown.

Your first notebook is the hardest one to set up. Once sources, citations and the Studio click, however, the chores around them are what slow you down.

Frequently asked questions

How do I use Gemini Notebook for the first time?

Go to notebook.google.com, sign in with your Google account and select Create new notebook. Upload a source, such as a PDF, a Google Doc or a YouTube link, then ask a question in the chat. Each answer cites your sources, and the Studio panel turns them into audio, slides or quizzes.

How do I use Gemini Notebook effectively?

Keep one project per notebook, because a notebook can’t see your other notebooks. Ask specific questions that name the source and the topic, tick only the sources a question needs, and hover over each citation to check the quote before you reuse an answer. Treat it as a reader of your documents, not a general chatbot.

Is Gemini Notebook free to use?

Yes. The free Standard tier includes 100 notebooks with up to 50 sources each, and usage that refreshes every five hours until a weekly limit. As of September 2026, Google AI Plus gets two times the standard usage and Google AI Pro gets four times.

How do I use Gemini Notebook to study?

Add lecture notes, readings and slides as sources, then open Configure Chat and pick the Learning Guide style. Generate flashcards and quizzes at easy, medium or hard difficulty, and play an Audio Overview on the go. Check key facts against the citations before an exam.

What files can I upload to Gemini Notebook?

PDFs, Word, text, Markdown, CSV and PowerPoint files, Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, web pages, public YouTube videos with captions, audio files, images and ePub files. Each source can hold up to 500,000 words or 200MB, and a free notebook takes up to 50 sources.

Can I use Gemini Notebook on my phone?

Yes. The app runs on iOS 17 or later and Android 10 or later. You can chat, download Audio Overviews for offline listening, study flashcards and add sources from your phone’s share menu. Notes, Mind Maps, reports and data tables still need the web version at notebook.google.com.

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Editorial note: fact-checked against the official help pages and docs linked above on October 1, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Contact us and we will fix it, or read more about Kortex.