How to get started with NotebookLM

Go to notebooklm.google and sign in with your Google account. Create a new notebook and add your sources — you can upload PDFs, paste Google Docs links, add YouTube video URLs, or paste website links. NotebookLM processes each source and builds a searchable knowledge base from them.

Supported source types

NotebookLM currently accepts: PDF files (up to 500 pages), Google Docs, Google Slides, YouTube video links (with captions), website URLs, plain text, and audio files. The free tier supports up to 50 sources per notebook and up to 25 notebooks.

Chatting with your sources

The chat panel on the right lets you ask questions about your uploaded sources. NotebookLM responds with cited answers — every claim links back to the exact passage in your source document. This citation system is the core value proposition: you can trust the answers because you can verify them. Ask broad questions ("What are the main arguments across these papers?") or specific ones ("What does the WHO report say about transmission rates?").

Audio Overview — the viral feature

Click "Generate" in the Audio Overview panel to create a 10–20 minute podcast-style conversation between two AI hosts summarising your notebook's content. This is particularly useful for: absorbing long research papers during a commute, getting a quick orientation on a new topic before diving into the sources, and sharing a digestible summary with colleagues who don't have time to read the original documents.

You can customise Audio Overview by adding instructions — "Focus on the methodology sections" or "Make it accessible to a non-technical audience" — before generating.

Study guide and outline generation

The "Generate" menu also offers: Study Guide (creates a structured Q&A quiz from your sources), Briefing Doc (executive summary of key points), Timeline (chronological summary of events), and FAQ (common questions and answers from your content). These are generated in seconds and can be exported to Google Docs.

Best use cases

The most effective NotebookLM workflows include: literature review (upload 20 papers, ask cross-cutting questions), due diligence (upload financials, legal docs, and market reports for a company), content research (upload sources for an article, ask for gaps and counterarguments), and course preparation (upload lecture notes and textbook chapters, generate study guides and practice questions).

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