NotebookLM - All about Sources

This guide offers a comprehensive overview of how to effectively utilize NotebookLM for managing and interacting with various sources, including web links, PDFs, and Google Drive files. It highlights features like adding sources at any time, generating AI summaries, and referencing specific content during chats, enhancing your research and study experience. By following this guide, users can streamline their workflow, access valuable information, and engage deeply with their materials, making it an essential resource for anyone looking to maximize their productivity.

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Google

Uploading Resources

When creating a new Notebook, you will be prompted to add sources. You can search the web or upload files such as PDFs, link files directly from your Google Drive, as well as add copied text, and links to websites and YouTube videos.

In this example, we've added a YouTube link. It is important that only the text transcript in the video is imported at this time, therefore, if a video does not have a transcript, it cannot be used. Only public YouTube video are supported,

Adding Drive Files

The Drive option allows you to choose files that are stored in your Google Drive account.

Click "Insert" after selecting your file(s).

Add Sources at Anytime

Click "Add sources" to add sources later on.

You can also "Search the web for new sources" and choose the model.

Diving Deeper into a source

Once a source is added, you are able to interact with the file and also choose to uncheck it for it to not be considered in future Chat responses or Studio outputs.

Clicking on a source opens the Source guide, where an AI generated summary of the source is available, along with main topics from the source.

When a topic is clicked on from the sources , it acts as a starting prompt for the Chat conversation and Notebook begins its process.

It will give you an output about the topic you selected. You can continue to prompt and interact with the Chat, rate the responses, copy and save to notes.

There will be more generated prompts for your topic to help you as you progress through the Chat.

Enter additional prompts "Start typing..." field to ask more questions and interact with the sources

One of the best features of NotebookLM are the references in the Chat. The conversation cites specific examples from the source document. If you hover over and click on the number, it will show you the actual location in the source file that this information was taken from.

Taking a look at the Source guide area once again, we can see the source file as it was imported.

Since this Google Slide deck was imported from Google Drive, we are able to click this button to open in a new tab and view the original Google Slide.

We are brought to a new tab, with the original Google Slide deck.

Since we also linked a public YouTube video and although, ONLY the text transcript is imported into the Notebook, we are still able to play the video directly from this location.

The transcript is also available in full below the video player.

NotebookLM - All about Sources

Faculty Center for Professional Excellence