This lesser-known NotebookLM characteristic helps you discover recordsdata you thought had been gone

Google’s NotebookLM is designed to make matters simpler to analysis and perceive. The platform offers you the ability to determine which sources to tug from to lookup a selected topic. Reasonably than trusting the Web at massive, like AI mainstays ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot , NotebookLM lets you choose the sources you need 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 great approach to really feel higher in regards to the confidence you may have within the solutions you are getting from a web-based AI assistant. NotebookLM doesn’t just stop there, although. It additionally contains 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. Need to take your finding out on the go? Your analysis may even be changed into an AI-powered podcast.

NotebookLM is a perfect examine companion, but it surely has different makes use of, too. Because of its newest integration, the platform can now assist you 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 permits you to select which sources you need to embrace in your analysis. You possibly can depend on the platform to go looking Google Gemini to search out sources if you’d like, however the principle motive NotebookLM is useful for analysis functions is that you would be able to belief the knowledge extra since you play a task in the place it is sourced. This lets you add recordsdata like PDFs, Phrase paperwork, and extra to tug immediately from.

If you would like a synopsis of a big doc, NotebookLM can generate one if you add it. Whenever you first open a brand new Pocket book, you will be requested so as to add sources. There are a number of methods to add one thing, akin to 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 will go to ask NotebookLM to go looking the online 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 individual recordsdata

After you click on on Uncover Sources, you are delivered to a web page that asks you to sort key phrases. This narrows down what you need to seek for. For instance, if you wish to study extra in regards to the pyramids in Egypt, you may sort that in there, together with different key phrases to broaden the dialogue. You too can sort 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 may see there are two choices for what sources you are pulling from. Certainly one of them is the Net, because you’re doubtless going to need to search the Web for data you do not already know, however it’s also possible to search on Google Drive. For those who’ve used Google Drive lots through the years to maintain observe of recordsdata, it may be an unbelievable asset for locating long-lost recordsdata saved on Google’s platform.

It helped me set up my Google Drive

I forgot about a whole lot of recordsdata I’ve saved

When you choose Google Drive, you may sort a phrase from the file that you just’re searching for. That is extremely useful for anybody that makes use of Google Drive and has a whole lot of recordsdata saved in it. I are likely to hold a whole lot 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 accomplished, in addition to lists of initiatives I’ve labored on which have been shared with crew members.

In case you have a obscure thought of what the doc was about, you may sort 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 finest match your description. For instance, I typed “Amazon” and my first story draft for Pocket-lint the place I wrote about Amazon gadgets 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 numerous recordsdata in Google Drive to search out one thing particular. For those who do not set up your Google Drive into folders, it simply lists them in chronological order. Not solely does it save ones that you have created, but it surely additionally saves those who you’ve got opened. For me, this contains a number of press releases from corporations. 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.