To use NotebookLM, go to notebooklm.google.com, sign in with a Google account, upload your sources (PDFs, Google Docs, websites, YouTube links), and start asking questions — every answer comes back with a citation pointing to the exact source it used. One thing worth knowing before you start: Google renamed the product to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026, so the interface you land on may say "Gemini Notebook" even though the URL and the core tool haven't changed.
Short answer: Go to notebooklm.google.com (now labeled Gemini Notebook), sign in, and click Add source to upload PDFs, Docs, websites, or YouTube links. Ask questions in the chat box and NotebookLM answers using only your uploaded material, with clickable citations. Free covers 100 notebooks with 50 sources each; paid Google AI plans raise those limits and add faster, longer Audio Overviews.
In my testing, I loaded a stack of PDFs and a couple of YouTube lecture links into a fresh notebook to see how much setup it actually takes before the tool becomes useful — it took about four minutes, most of it spent waiting for the longer PDF to finish indexing. Here's what happens at each step, what changed with the July 2026 rename, and the mistakes that make people think NotebookLM is more limited than it is.
What you'll need
Nothing to install. Go to notebooklm.google.com in any browser and sign in with a free Google account — no credit card required. Have your source material ready: PDFs, Google Docs or Slides, plain text, website URLs, or YouTube video links all work, and you can also paste text directly or upload an audio file. There's no dedicated mobile app; on a phone, NotebookLM runs in the mobile browser, though Google says notebooks now sync into the main Gemini app as part of the July 2026 rebrand, so you may see the same notebook show up there too. Nothing in this guide requires a paid plan — Free covers the whole workflow below.
Step-by-step: How to use NotebookLM
1. Create a new notebook
Go to notebooklm.google.com, sign in, and click New notebook (or Create on mobile). You get a blank workspace with an empty source panel on the left — nothing here talks to the open web by default, which is the entire point of the tool.
2. Add your sources
Click Add source and upload PDFs, paste a website URL, paste plain text, link a YouTube video, or connect a Google Doc, Slide deck, or Drive file. Free notebooks hold up to 50 sources each, and each source can run up to 500,000 words, according to Google’s own NotebookLM/Gemini Notebook FAQ — plenty for a full textbook chapter or a dense research paper.
3. Let it generate the notebook guide
Once sources finish processing, NotebookLM auto-generates a summary and a handful of suggested questions above the chat box. Skim it — it's a fast way to confirm the tool actually parsed your documents correctly before you start asking real questions.
4. Ask questions in the chat box
Type a question and press enter. Answers are grounded only in your uploaded sources, and every claim links back to the specific passage it came from — click the citation number to jump straight to that spot in the source document.
5. Generate an Audio Overview or Mind Map from the Studio panel
Open the Studio panel on the right and pick a format: Audio Overview turns your sources into a two-host conversational discussion, Mind Map lays out the key concepts as a clickable diagram, and there are also options for flashcards, a quiz, and a slide deck. Free accounts get 3 audio generations a day; that resets daily.
6. Share or export what you built
Click Share to send a notebook to a collaborator, or export a Studio output (audio file, mind map, slide deck) to keep outside the tool. Shared notebooks keep working even through the July 2026 rename — Google says existing links redirect automatically.
Example prompts you can copy
A bare question gets a bare answer. Being specific about the format and the constraint gets a genuinely useful one back. A few I reuse:
- "Summarize the main argument of these sources in 5 bullet points, then flag anywhere they disagree with each other."
- "What does [source name] say about [specific topic]? Quote the exact sentence, not a paraphrase."
- "I'm studying for an exam on this material. Write 10 quiz questions with answers, ranked easiest to hardest."
- "Compare how these two sources define [term] and tell me which one is more precise."
- "Turn the key findings into a one-paragraph executive summary a non-expert could understand."
Each one names the output format or the comparison NotebookLM should make — a plain "summarize this" prompt tends to come back generic.
Common mistakes to avoid
The one I made first: uploading a 40-page report and asking a question that only concerned page 3 — NotebookLM read the whole thing to answer, which is slower and occasionally less precise than pointing it at the relevant excerpt directly. Second, treating an Audio Overview as fact-checked; it's a solid summary tool, but the two AI hosts can still smooth over nuance the source material actually contains, so verify anything you plan to quote elsewhere. Third, not clicking the citations — the whole advantage of NotebookLM over a generic chatbot is that every claim traces back to your source, and skipping that check throws the advantage away. Fourth, mixing unrelated projects into one notebook instead of starting a fresh one per topic, which muddies the auto-generated summary and suggested questions. And fifth, assuming the free plan is a stripped demo — it isn't; 100 notebooks and 50 sources each covers most individual use before you'd ever need to pay.
Free vs. paid plans, at a glance
NotebookLM's free plan is a complete product, not a trial. What paid Google AI plans add is headroom — more notebooks, more sources per notebook, and more Audio Overviews per day — plus, on Google AI Ultra and Workspace accounts, a new secure cloud computer that can write and run code against your sources for deeper data analysis, a feature Google started rolling out with the July 2026 rebrand.
| Plan | Price | Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) access | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 notebooks, 50 sources each, 50 chat queries/day, 3 audio generations/day | Individual research, studying, casual use |
| Google AI Plus | $4.99/mo | More notebooks, sources, and audio generations than Free | Light regular use, some Gemini app access |
| Google AI Pro | $19.99/mo | Expanded notebook size and higher daily limits | Frequent research, longer documents |
| Google AI Ultra | $99.99–$199.99/mo | Highest limits, plus the new code-execution feature | Heavy daily use, data-heavy analysis |
Google doesn't publish exact source or query caps for the paid tiers the way it does for Free — its own pricing page only describes Plus, Pro, and Ultra access as "More," "Expanded," and "Higher" respectively, alongside a general claim of "5X more audio overviews, notebooks and sources per notebook" on paid plans. Treat any more specific number you see elsewhere as an estimate, not a confirmed figure. Ultra's pricing itself dropped sharply this year — from $249.99 a month down to $99.99 and $199.99 tiers, announced at Google I/O in May 2026, according to Engadget’s coverage of the change.
Tools that make this easier
NotebookLM is built specifically for source-grounded research and studying, not general chat, so it's worth knowing where it fits next to the tools you probably already have open. If you want Google's general-purpose assistant instead of a source-locked research tool, how to use Gemini AI covers the wider Gemini app, which now shares notebooks with Gemini Notebook directly. For open-web research where you want live citations from the internet rather than your own uploaded files, how to use Perplexity for research is the closer comparison. Once your notebook has done the reading and you need to turn those sourced notes into an actual draft, how to use Claude AI is the strongest tool I've tested for that handoff. If studying is the actual goal, AI tools for students and the best AI tool for study round up the options built specifically around flashcards, quizzes, and exam prep rather than research. And if the end product of your research is published writing, my ranked best AI writing tools guide covers what to hand it to next.
My take
NotebookLM earns its keep the moment you have real source material — PDFs, lecture recordings, a pile of research papers — and want answers grounded in exactly that, not the open web. The free plan is genuinely enough for most individual use; I'd only reach for a paid Google AI plan once you're hitting the daily audio-generation cap or working with source-heavy projects across dozens of notebooks. The July 2026 rename to Gemini Notebook doesn't change how the tool works day to day, but it does signal Google folding it tighter into the Gemini app and Search — worth watching if you rely on it as a standalone tool. The habit that matters most either way: click the citation before you repeat the claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is NotebookLM free to use?
Yes. The free plan includes 100 notebooks, up to 50 sources per notebook, 50 chat queries a day, and 3 Audio Overview generations a day, with no credit card required. Paid Google AI plans (Plus, Pro, Ultra) raise those limits and add faster access to newer Studio features.
Is NotebookLM the same thing as Gemini Notebook?
Yes. Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026. The product, the URL, and existing notebooks all carried over — only the name and the logo changed, alongside new syncing with the Gemini app and Search.
How long does it take to learn how to use NotebookLM?
A few minutes for the basics — upload a source, ask a question, read the citation. Learning when to reach for an Audio Overview versus a Mind Map, and how to prompt it for exam-ready output, usually takes one or two real study or research sessions.
What is the easiest way to get good results from NotebookLM?
Upload only the material that's actually relevant to your question instead of an entire document library, ask specific questions rather than "summarize this," and click the citation on anything you plan to repeat as fact.
Can NotebookLM search the open internet?
No — by design, it only answers from the sources you upload, which is what keeps its citations reliable. If you need answers pulled from the live web, a tool like Perplexity or Gemini's own search mode is the better fit.