Among the experimental instruments that Google affords is NotebookLM, a bare-bones notes app that you simply use in your net browser. What makes it attention-grabbing is that it makes use of Google’s generative AI chatbot (variously generally known as Bard or Duet AI and now rebranded as Gemini) to investigate sources of textual content that you simply “feed” it, after which generate notes primarily based on the data in them.Here are some situations the place you would possibly wish to use NotebookLM:
To flip the contents of an extended doc into a quick abstract.
To extract insights from a number of paperwork that cowl a sure subject. For instance, you possibly can have NotebookLM analyze paperwork that pertain to a undertaking that your enterprise is engaged on.
To deliver collectively and summarize info that you simply discover whereas doing on-line analysis, similar to snippets of textual content from net pages.
This information will take you thru establishing and utilizing NotebookLM. You’ll have to have a Google consumer account to enroll in Google Workspace Labs (in case you’re not already a member) and to register to NotebookLM. You should be at the least 18 years outdated and stay within the US to make use of NotebookLM.When utilizing NotebookLM, remember the fact that generative AI instruments are of their infancy and generally get details mistaken. Be certain to fact-check all responses on this or every other genAI software. Also notice that that is an early beta product, and its efficiency can generally be glitchy.Create your first pocket bookIn NotebookLM, a “notebook” comprises a number of notes. You can create a number of notebooks. So every pocket book represents a undertaking that you simply’re engaged on, containing notes which might be particular to that undertaking.On the beginning web page of your NotebookLM account, click on New Notebook. On the small panel that opens, sort a reputation for the brand new pocket book. Howard Wen / IDG
Starting a brand new pocket book in NotebookLM. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
When you click on Save or press the Enter key, NotebookLM will swap to a brand new web page displaying the workspace of your new pocket book. Howard Wen / IDG
A brand new clean pocket book. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Add your sourcesThe sources of textual content that you simply add for NotebookLM to investigate will seem as playing cards on the panel that runs down the left aspect of the workspace. On the Sources panel, click on ADD SOURCE or the + signal to the appropriate of “Sources.” A small panel will open that presents 3 ways you can add a textual content supply:
Drive: You choose a Google Docs doc that’s saved in your Google Drive.
PDF: You add a PDF that’s saved in your PC. (Note: you can not add a PDF that’s saved in your Google Drive.)
Copied textual content: A clean supply card opens over the workspace. You can paste textual content into it that you simply’ve copied to your PC clipboard, similar to textual content from an e-mail or messaging chat. You also can copy and paste in an online hyperlink for NotebookLM to investigate. And you possibly can optionally sort in extra textual content.
Howard Wen / IDG
Designating a brand new supply. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
After you make your selection and undergo the steps that the NotebookLM interface guides you thru, your supply will seem as a thumbnail on the supply panel.You can have as much as 20 sources in a pocket book, and every supply should include fewer than 200,000 phrases. NotebookLM doesn’t at present assist photos, media information, or complicated tables or charts as sources.Google says that the information you add shouldn’t be used to coach NotebookLM and can keep personal, however the firm additionally warns, “Avoid uploading documents with any personal or sensitive information” and “Avoid uploading documents you don’t have the applicable rights to.” Create and handle notesA pocket book can have as much as 1,000 notes. To create a brand new notice manually, click on the Add notice button that’s on the higher proper of the Notes panel. A card for a brand new notice will seem on the Notes panel. Howard Wen / IDG
A card will seem on the principle workspace for every notice you create. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Click this card and it’ll open as a panel over the workspace. You can sort textual content into this panel, in addition to paste textual content saved in your PC clipboard. Howard Wen / IDG
Adding textual content to a notice. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
When you’re completed, click on the double-arrow icon on the decrease proper of the panel. Your notice will as soon as once more seem as a card on the Notes panel. Click it to reopen it so you possibly can learn or edit it.To delete a notice, transfer the pointer over its card. Click the sq. that seems on its upper-right nook. This will add a blue checkmark contained in the sq.. Then click on the Delete notes button on the high of the Notes panel. To delete a number of notes directly, choose their particular person notice playing cards (or click on the Select all button) and click on Delete notes. Howard Wen / IDG
Deleting notes from a pocket book. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
With these fundamentals out of the best way, we are able to get to the true energy of NotebookLM: its built-in chat with genAI capabilities.Chat with NotebookLM about your sourcesBelow the Notes space is a chat panel, and that is the actual level of utilizing NotebookLM. Type contained in the entry field and click on the arrow to the appropriate to make a request to the AI about your textual content sources. The greatest strategy to phrase your requests is within the type of a query.The AI additionally supplies three instructed queries above the entry field; these are primarily based on info in your sources. Click a suggestion and it’ll be posted within the chat window. Howard Wen / IDG
Type in a query or select one of many instructed queries. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
By default, NotebookLM analyzes all of the sources in a pocket book when formulating a response. You can click on the blue checkbox on any supply’s thumbnail to deselect it, and the AI will ignore that supply. To take away a supply fully, transfer the pointer over its thumbnail, click on the three-dot icon, and choose Remove supply.When you enter a request, the AI will take a couple of seconds to course of it and put up a response. Howard Wen / IDG
NotebookLM’s response to a question. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
There are a couple of methods to work together with response card:Pin: Click the pin icon on the higher proper to show the AI’s response right into a notice card that can seem on the Notes panel. You can then click on the cardboard to open and skim the notice, however you can not edit it.Copy: Click this icon on the decrease proper to repeat the textual content of the AI’s response to your PC clipboard. You can then paste the response right into a doc or a notice you create manually, which it is possible for you to to edit.Thumbs Up/Down: Click both of those icons on the decrease proper to fee how good you assume the AI’s response is. This helps to coach the AI to provide you higher outcomes for future requests.Citations: At the decrease left is a button telling you the variety of citations — textual content segments from a number of sources — used to create the response. When you click on the button, a quantity seems for every quotation. Moving the pointer over a quotation’s quantity opens a panel that exhibits you the supply textual content. Howard Wen / IDG
Citations present particular chunks of textual content that Duet AI drew from to generate its response. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Get a supply abstract and kick off a associated chatWhen you click on a supply’s thumbnail on the Sources panel, the supply card will increase to fill the left half of the workspace and NotebookLM will generate a supply information — a abstract that describes the contents of the supply. Howard Wen / IDG
Duet AI creates a abstract of the supply and a listing of key subjects. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Note: in case you created a copied textual content supply card that features a net hyperlink, NotebookLM will attempt to generate a abstract of the content material on that net web page.To the appropriate of the abstract is a listing of key subjects. Clicking any of those sends a request concerning the subject that the AI will reply to within the chat window.Have NotebookLM synthesize your notesOnce you will have a variety of notes collected in a pocket book, you possibly can ask NotebookLM to do one thing new with them, similar to summarize all of them or create a top level view from them. In the principle Notes workspace, choose the playing cards for the notes you wish to draw from, and NotebookLM exhibits a number of instructed actions above the chat window, similar to Summarize, Suggest associated concepts, and Create define. Howard Wen / IDG
NotebookLM affords solutions for synthesizing chosen notes. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Click one of many solutions — or sort your individual directive into the chat window, similar to “Create a bulleted list of key points” — and the AI will generate an acceptable response. Some responses you generate this manner are robotically saved as a brand new notice; in different instances you’ll have to pin or copy them if you wish to save them.Share and collaborate on a pocket bookYou can share a pocket book with others, both proscribing their permissions in order that they will solely view its contents or permitting them to edit it, similar to by including, modifying, or eradicating notes and sources. Everyone you share a pocket book with can work together with the AI and replica its responses to their clipboard, however solely these with Editor standing can add a response as a notice.To share a pocket book, click on the angled-line icon that’s towards the higher proper of your pocket book’s workspace. A Share panel opens over the workspace. Howard Wen / IDG
Sharing a pocket book. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Inside the entry field, sort the title or e-mail tackle of somebody who’s in your Google contacts. (Note: they have to already be in your Google contacts. You can not sort in any e-mail tackle right here.) When their title seems, click on it or press the Enter key so as to add them to the “People who have access” checklist.By default, an individual you add will likely be granted Viewer entry to your pocket book. If you need them to collaborate with you on the pocket book, click on Viewer and alter it to Editor.When you might be carried out including individuals to share your pocket book with and setting their entry ranges, click on the Send button. They’ll be notified by e-mail that you simply’re sharing this pocket book with them.Use NotebookLM… with one other notes appTo re-emphasize, NotebookLM in its present kind is naked bones. It lacks a number of options of a typical notes app. There are not any process lists, nor are you able to add photos to your notes. And even in case you add an online tackle to a notice, it gained’t flip right into a clickable hyperlink.This raises the query: will extra options be added to NotebookLM? Or might its AI software for producing notes — which is at present the only purpose for utilizing it — be rolled into Google’s current notes app, Google Keep?While Google kinds this out, bear in mind you can at all times copy the textual content of a response that the AI generates to your clipboard. Then you possibly can paste it right into a notice in Google Keep or one other notes app. In this manner, NotebookLM works effectively as a companion software.Related:
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