How to Use Gemini Notebook: A Complete Beginner’s Walkthrough

New to Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)? This is the walkthrough I wish I had on day one. By the end you will have created a notebook, added sources, asked grounded questions, used citations, generated study outputs, and created an Audio Overview. No prior experience needed.

Before you start

Gemini Notebook is free to use with a Google account and a generous free tier. There is also a paid NotebookLM Plus / Google One tier with higher limits if you outgrow the free plan. For most people starting out, the free tier is plenty.

Step 1: Create your first notebook

1. 1Sign in with your Google account and open Gemini Notebook.
2. 2Click Create (or "New notebook").
3. 3Give it a clear name tied to one project or topic — for example "Thermodynamics Midterm" rather than "Notes." Focused notebooks give sharper answers.

Step 2: Add sources

A notebook is only as good as its sources. You can add:

1. 1PDFs and documents — upload directly or pull from Google Drive.
2. 2Web pages — paste a URL to import an article.
3. 3YouTube videos — add a video URL and Gemini Notebook uses the transcript as a searchable source.
4. 4Pasted text — drop in raw notes or excerpts.

Aim for 5 to 15 high-quality sources to start. Quality beats quantity: three focused papers beat thirty random links.

Getting clean sources in is the single biggest lever on answer quality. This is exactly where Gemini Notebook Toolkit helps — one-click capture from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, YouTube, Reddit, and 30+ other platforms drops clean, well-titled sources straight into a library you can pull from.

Step 3: Ask grounded questions

Now the fun part. In the chat box, ask questions about your sources. Because Gemini Notebook is source-grounded, it answers only from what you uploaded.

Good starting prompts:

• "Summarize the main argument across all sources in five bullet points."
• "What do these sources disagree about?"
• "Using only source 2, explain the methodology."

For a big head start, browse our prompt library or the 50 best Gemini Notebook prompts.

Step 4: Follow the citations

Every answer includes inline citations. Click one to jump to the exact passage it came from. Make this a habit:

• Verify that the cited passage actually supports the claim.
• Use citations to find the original context for a quote.
• Trust answers more when several independent sources are cited.

This click-to-source loop is what separates Gemini Notebook from a chatbot that just sounds confident.

Step 5: Generate outputs

Gemini Notebook can turn your sources into structured artifacts. Look for the output or studio panel and try:

• Briefing doc — a one-page summary of the whole notebook
• Study guide — key concepts and questions to test yourself
• FAQ — common questions and grounded answers
• Timeline — chronological view of events across sources

Students can go deeper with our study guide generator.

Step 6: Create an Audio Overview

The Audio Overview is Gemini Notebook's signature feature: two AI hosts discuss your sources in a natural, podcast-style conversation. Click to generate one, then listen while commuting or exercising.

An Audio Overview is only as coherent as the source set behind it. Before generating, prune off-topic sources so the hosts stay on message. Our audio overview planner helps you assemble a tight, well-ordered source set first. (Note: the Audio Overview itself is generated by Gemini Notebook; the toolkit only helps you prepare the sources.)

Step 7: Get your work out

When you have answers and outputs worth keeping, do not leave them trapped. Copy responses as Markdown, or use Gemini Notebook Toolkit to export to Markdown, LaTeX, PDF, or JSON — free and unlimited on every plan.

A repeatable weekly loop

1. 1Capture new sources as you find them (toolkit makes this one click).
2. 2Add the best ones to the relevant notebook.
3. 3Ask grounded questions and follow citations.
4. 4Regenerate your Audio Overview or briefing doc to stay current.
5. 5Export anything you want to keep or publish.

Next steps

You now know the full loop. To go further, read the power-user tips and tricks, and if you are curious how the grounding works under the hood, see how Gemini Notebook works. Then install the toolkit so feeding and exporting sources stops being the slow part.