This lesser-known NotebookLM function helps you discover recordsdata you thought have been gone

Google’s NotebookLM is designed to make matters simpler to analysis and perceive. The platform offers you the facility to determine which sources to drag from to lookup a particular topic. Quite than trusting the Web at giant, like AI mainstays ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot , NotebookLM lets you choose the sources you wish to use, after which creates a research-based pocket book from that data.

It is a sensible methodology of discovering the solutions you want. It is also a perfect approach to really feel higher in regards to the confidence you’ll be able to have within the solutions you are getting from an internet AI assistant. NotebookLM doesn’t just stop there, although. It additionally consists of options that allow you to use the knowledge you get to check and study. You may make flashcards, quizzes, map out the sequence of events in Mind Maps, and extra. Wish to take your finding out on the go? Your analysis may even be was an AI-powered podcast.

NotebookLM is a perfect research associate, but it surely has different makes use of, too. Because of its newest integration, the platform can now make it easier to discover recordsdata that may have been misplaced to the litter of your on-line life.

Use NotebookLM to find sources

Have some management over what you seek for

As said, NotebookLM enables you to select which sources you wish to embody in your analysis. You’ll be able to depend on the platform to go looking Google Gemini to seek out sources if you’d like, however the principle motive NotebookLM is useful for analysis functions is which you could belief the knowledge extra since you play a job in the place it is sourced. This lets you add recordsdata like PDFs, Phrase paperwork, and extra to drag immediately from.

If you need a synopsis of a giant doc, NotebookLM can generate one if you add it. Once you first open a brand new Pocket book, you may be requested so as to add sources. There are a number of methods to add one thing, resembling including a YouTube video hyperlink or importing the recordsdata your self. Within the prime proper nook, there is a Uncover Sources button. That is the place you may go to ask NotebookLM to go looking the net for you if you do not know precisely what sources you need.

Have NotebookLM use Google Drive as its depository

Go from the Web to your personal recordsdata

After you click on on Uncover Sources, you are dropped at a web page that asks you to kind key phrases. This narrows down what you wish to seek for. For instance, if you wish to study extra in regards to the pyramids in Egypt, you’ll be able to kind that in there, together with different key phrases to broaden the dialogue. You too can kind in comparisons, like Spotify vs. Apple Music, and have the finding out assistant search for comparability supplies.

On the backside of the web page, you’ll be able to see there are two choices for what sources you are pulling from. One among them is the Internet, because you’re probably going to wish to search the Web for data you do not already know, however you too can search on Google Drive. If you happen to’ve used Google Drive loads over time to maintain monitor of recordsdata, it may be an unimaginable asset for locating long-lost recordsdata saved on Google’s platform.

It helped me set up my Google Drive

I forgot about plenty of recordsdata I’ve saved

When you choose Google Drive, you’ll be able to kind a phrase from the file that you simply’re in search of. That is extremely useful for anybody that makes use of Google Drive and has plenty of recordsdata saved in it. I are likely to maintain plenty of Sheets on the platform, which is not useful for NotebookLM. However I even have dozens of saved Docs from varied writing assignments I’ve executed, in addition to lists of tasks I’ve labored on which have been shared with workforce members.

If in case you have a imprecise thought of what the doc was about, you’ll be able to kind within the key phrase to associate with that. You do not have to recollect the file’s title. NotebookLM will scan eligible recordsdata in Google Drive and populate choices that greatest match your description. For instance, I typed “Amazon” and my first story draft for Pocket-lint the place I wrote about Amazon units appeared, not as a result of I had Amazon within the title, however as a result of it was talked about within the doc.

This generally is a trick for wading by means of numerous recordsdata in Google Drive to seek out one thing particular. If you happen to do not set up your Google Drive into folders, it simply lists them in chronological order. Not solely does it save ones that you’ve got created, but it surely additionally saves those who you’ve got opened. For me, this consists of a number of press releases from firms. As a result of I hardly ever undergo and clear up my Google Drive, mine is a little bit of a large number. This hack from Google Drive helps me discover these recordsdata. I do not even have to make a Pocket book — it is only a private scouring instrument.