How to Use NotebookLM in 2026 (Step-by-Step, With Screenshots)

Set up your first notebook

1. 1

   Open NotebookLM and create a new notebook

   Go to notebooklm.google.com and sign in with your Google account. Click "Create new" in the top-right corner of the home screen and NotebookLM opens a fresh, untitled notebook. Think of a notebook as a workspace for one project — meeting notes, a research topic, a course you are studying, or, in the demo, a product launch. Give it a name at the top so you can find it later.

   

2. 2

   Open the Add sources panel

   Sources are whatever NotebookLM should read: PDFs, Google Docs, websites, YouTube videos, copied text, even audio. Click "Add sources" at the top of the left panel. The dialog that opens combines every entry point: drag files into the drop zone, or use the Upload files, Websites, Drive, and Copied text buttons. A "Search the web for new sources" bar sits on top for when you do not have the material yet.

   

3. 3

   Add your first source by dragging in a PDF

   Drag a PDF into the drop zone and NotebookLM ingests it within seconds. The file appears in the Sources panel with a checkbox, and NotebookLM immediately writes an overview of the document in the chat panel. In the demo, a launch-plan PDF becomes the first source of the "Galactic Marshmallow Explosion Launch" notebook. Keep clicking Add sources to stack more files at any time.

   

4. 4

   Pull meeting notes straight from Google Drive

   Click Add sources again and choose Drive. A file picker opens with Recent, My Drive, Shared with me, and Starred tabs — search or browse, select the document, and confirm with Insert. Docs, Slides, and Sheets added this way behave as living documents, so you can fetch the latest version after teammates make changes. PDFs, by contrast, are static snapshots once uploaded.

   

5. 5

   Add a website or YouTube video by URL

   In the Add sources dialog, open Websites and paste any URL — a blog post, a documentation page, or a YouTube link. NotebookLM imports the page's visible text, or the transcript of public YouTube videos, and treats it as another source. The dialog lists the limits up front: paid articles are not supported, and recently uploaded videos may not import yet. Click Insert and both URLs become sources.

   

6. 6

   Let Source Discovery find sources for you

   Short on material? Type a topic into "Search the web for new sources" — the demo searches "dessert trends 2026". NotebookLM returns a list of web results with a one-line note on each. Preview them, untick "Select all sources" if you only want one or two, tick the keepers, and hit Import. Imported pages join your other sources in the left panel.

   

7. 7

   Open a source to read its AI summary

   Click any source in the left panel and NotebookLM opens it with a "Source guide" on top: what the document is, the goals it describes, key facts, and section-by-section highlights. This is the fastest way to judge whether a long PDF deserves your time — the guide surfaces the structure before you read a single page. Click the back arrow to return to the full source list.

   

8. 8

   Group sources automatically with auto-labelling

   Once several sources pile up, hover over the icon next to Select all and click "Auto-label sources by topic". NotebookLM reads every source and sorts them into groups it names itself — in the demo, Corporate Policy, Industry Trends, and Product Launch. Each group can be expanded, checked, or unchecked as a whole, which matters later when an output should use only part of the library.

   

Ask questions and keep the good answers

1. 9

   Ask a question across all your sources

   The center panel is a chat grounded in your sources. Ask in plain language — the demo types "Summarize our cookie launch strategy." — and NotebookLM reads every checked source and answers with a structured reply: a launch timeline broken into weeks, marketing notes, and follow-up questions. Change the checkboxes in the Sources panel to control which sources the answer draws from.

   

2. 10

   Check any claim with inline citations

   Every statement in a reply carries a numbered citation. Hover one and NotebookLM previews the exact passage from the source document; click through and the source opens with the supporting text highlighted. Nothing in the answer floats free of the material — which is what makes NotebookLM usable where a wrong detail costs something. The walkthrough ends with the same advice: verify anything critical.

   

3. 11

   Save the best answers as notes

   When a response is worth keeping — a risk list, a synthesis you will reference again — click "Save to note" under the reply. It is stored in the Studio panel on the right as a note you can rename and edit, so good answers stop scrolling away with the chat. You can also write notes from scratch with the Add note button and collect your own thoughts alongside the AI's.

   

4. 12

   Turn a note into a source

   Notes can re-enter the research loop. Open the Customer Feedback note — a list one customer gave about the cookie — and click "Convert to source" at the bottom. The note appears in the Sources panel like any uploaded file, which means every future chat answer and Studio output now factors it in. It is the simplest way to fold your own observations into the corpus without exporting anything.

   

Generate outputs and share the notebook

1. 13

   Meet the Studio panel

   The right-hand Studio panel is where NotebookLM turns sources into finished artifacts. One click generates an Audio Overview, Slide Deck, Video Overview, Report, Flashcard set, Quiz, Infographic, or Data Table — Mind Map lives here too. Each output is saved in the panel as it is created, next to your notes, so a notebook ends up holding both the research and the deliverables built from it.

   

2. 14

   Map a topic with a mind map

   Pick your sources first — the demo deselects all and checks only the two Industry Trends sources — then click Mind Map. NotebookLM builds an interactive diagram, here titled "The Confectionery Landscape: 2026 Dessert and Bakery Trends", with expandable branches for social media appeal, texture innovation, health, flavor profiles, and more. Zoom, drag to explore, and click a node to go deeper.

   

3. 15

   Customize an Audio Overview before generating

   Audio Overview generates a podcast-style discussion of your sources — and it is customizable. The settings dialog offers four formats (Deep Dive, Brief, Critique, Debate), a language picker, three lengths, and a focus box: tell the hosts what to prioritize, or add a suggested chip like Marketing Strategy. Keep the defaults if they look right, click Generate, and the episode is ready in a few minutes.

   

4. 16

   Share the notebook with your team

   Click Share in the top bar to invite people by email. Each collaborator gets a role: Viewer for read-only access, Editor if they should add sources and generate outputs — and you can remove access later from the same menu. The notebook stays Restricted by default, meaning only explicitly added people can open it. Everyone with access sees the same sources, notes, and generated content.

   

Frequently asked questions