Pocket book LM and Obsidian are the dynamic duo I did not know I wanted

Taking notes is one thing many people do all through the day. I do know I am unable to get by way of mine with out setting reminders or jotting down a number of issues to jog my reminiscence. It is like I am nonetheless in class and note-taking is my saving grace earlier than the following take a look at — besides as an alternative of learning, I am simply attempting to not neglect one thing I have to do.

Whether or not I am in a gathering or researching a brand new subject for a narrative, I take notes as I’m going. I strive to determine what is going on on with a brand new program or make sense of a subject that is getting traction currently, and I jot issues down alongside the best way. My favourite app to make use of is Obsidian. It is nice for conserving tabs on every kind of matters, and a free, easy-to-use note-taking app that is develop into fashionable with thousands and thousands of customers.

I am additionally a giant proponent of NotebookLM and figured why not attempt to use Google’s note taking app to assist me decipher a few of my notes in Obsidian. What I discovered was really fairly shocking. Not solely is my handwriting atrocious, however my notes will be actually arduous to decipher. Fortunately, AI was in a position to assist me spot some patterns.

Obsidian is straightforward to make use of and easy to combine

I used to be happy with how one can carry it over

When you’re utilizing Obsidian, you’ll be able to open completely different sorts of notes and use them for absolutely anything. On the finish of the day, you are the one typing in them, so it is utterly as much as you ways you utilize them. I like to make use of Obsidian to maintain monitor of my week. I normally have a notice with reminders for every day, together with one for freelance matters I wish to analysis for story concepts. I will even make a every day notice for random ideas or issues I have to look into.

Fortunately, there are a number of methods to combine the notes I preserve in my Obsidian vault. I can export them as PDFs and add them to NotebookLM. It is easy sufficient, however you do have to save lots of every notice individually. That may current a little bit of a problem, because you may lose the connections between your notes — and the AI might not perceive how all the pieces suits collectively. So, utilizing Markdown hyperlinks is vital.

Markdown is the key ingredient for simple integration

You possibly can copy, paste, and get the hyperlinks

As a result of NotebookLM works with Markdown, I exploit Markdown hyperlinks in my Obsidian notes. I depend on these hyperlinks to attach my notes and assist me perceive which matters are a part of the identical analysis thread. I do preserve them in folders in my vault, however reasonably than opening one notice after which one other simply to toggle between them, a Markdown hyperlink lets me bounce from one to the opposite.

Which means I can copy and paste textual content from Obsidian into NotebookLM, and it understands how the notes are linked… all because of the Markdown hyperlinks. That is confirmed once I use one of many many options that NotebookLM affords to assist individuals examine and do analysis. In fact, I additionally fill out my pocket book with different analysis hyperlinks exterior of Obsidian to color a fuller image of no matter subject I am diving into, particularly if I am beginning with notes I uploaded from Obsidian.

Thoughts Map helps me join my analysis additional

I uploaded an inventory of the notes I had opened at present and threw them into NotebookLM’s Thoughts Map. It mapped out all of my notes, displaying how they’re linked and how one can finest navigate by way of them. It even discovered components of my analysis and notes that I hadn’t linked through Markdown hyperlinks and grouped them collectively. Which may appear to be a small factor, however I accomplish that a lot analysis on completely different matters that it may be powerful to maintain monitor of all the pieces.

Granted, I do not at all times put all the pieces into Obsidian. However I do steadily hyperlink again to older notes from new ones. Utilizing Thoughts Map helps me make deeper connections to notes I could have missed linking. I additionally actually loved the newer NotebookLM software, Studies. I will add in a few of my scribblings (which can learn like they’re from a madman) and Studies can flip that right into a briefing doc to assist me higher perceive each my very own writing and the analysis hyperlinks I’ve added from across the net. Since NotebookLM makes use of no matter I present as its supply materials, it may pull the solutions I would like straight from my analysis.

Generally, I simply use it to summarize and assist me manage

I can ask inquiries to remind me in regards to the subject

I do a lot in Obsidian to maintain monitor of all the pieces occurring in each my skilled and private life. Since I am at my pc for many of the day, I converted from the iPhone’s Notes app to Obsidian as a result of it is a lot simpler to arrange and customise with completely different options. Now that NotebookLM has a cell app as properly, it opens up much more flexibility in how I combine it with Obsidian.

I can return into Obsidian to revise or increase what I’ve written and make the most of its big selection of options. Conserving Obsidian tidy additionally improves how properly NotebookLM can course of and use the content material — particularly as I make updates. As soon as I sync the 2, I can use NotebookLM like a chatbot, asking questions to look deeper into the analysis. The extra I exploit these two and combine them, the higher they will be, which is one thing I am genuinely so enthusiastic about.