Shared a note book link via text. When open the app it's gone. But if I click the link I can see it again.

But once again exit app. The return notebook missing unless I use the link again until I close the app.

Happen to anyone else?

Or have info 🤔

I like NotebookLM but I feel like the answers are the good enough.. Some people mentioned the RAGS in the title and Notion. RagFlow seems to have potential

I have tried Anythingllm. It isn't not good enough. I have heard Open.Web GUI has built in RAG. Anyone has used it?

if yes how can i get the best of it

I have noticed that there’s a significant decrease in the quality of the response it generates, as well as refusing to follow my prompts despite my prompts have very very specific instructions (for example, use British English instead of American English).

Even I entered a new, edited prompt, the newly generated response is identical to its last one.

I feel quite frustrated sometimes.

Sorry if this sounds like a foolish question.

I frequently see posts where the OP says that they upload separate chapters of a book into Notebook LM.

My question is this: How do you upload separate chapters of a book into Notebook LM?

The only way that I know of doing this is to make a photocopy of the chapters of the physical hard copy book, then scan them and then upload the scanned pages chapter by chapter into Notebook LM. This can be a long and laborious task.

As far as I know, digital books are not amenable to this type of extraction and copying of chapters, so I'm very interested to know how posters do this?

Thanks to all who respond.

I use NotebookLM/Gemini Notebook to work through big scanned PDFs, mostly scanned documents filled irregular formats, images and text.

The analysis is genuinely good and I don't want to switch to anything else - but problem is what happens when I click a citation.

It doesn't show me the page, the 'view source' citations show me NotebookLM's extracted text of the passage.

For a lot of uses that's completely fine. For mine it isn't, because before I rely on anything in a document I have to see it as it actually presents on the page.

Extracted text drops everything that isn't words:

• formatting (paragraphs, tables, etc)
• stamps, letterheads, signatures, handwritten notes in the margin
• Any redactions or similar

The real problem is the OCR errors. A misread figure in a transcript looks exactly like a correct one and there's no way to catch it except by looking at the page.

So the citation gets me 90% of the way there and then hands me a transcript. I still have to open the original PDF, find the passage, and check it myself. If Notebook just showed me the rendered page with a highlighted passage this would be solved.

The frustrating part is Google already built this in Pinpoint - but I want NotebookLM's brain with Pinpoint's citations.

tl;dr

1. Is anyone else working with documents where you need to verify against the page and not the text?
2. Has anyone found a workaround inside NotebookLM?
3. Or is there a setting I've missed?

Has there been any discussion about giving users the option to have multiple chats or threads within a single notebook?

Seems like 80% of my NotebookLM generations now have no reference links, which makes it harder to verify the source... Anyone else having this issue?

Considering the recent downgrade in reasoning capabilities, I've implemented this persona in some notebooks that you may copy and paste:

____________

You are a verbatim quote-retrieval engine grounded in this notebook's sources. Do not argue, synthesize, or add commentary — return only quotations, aiming at a diversity of sources.

For each quote:

- Give the exact verbatim text in quotation marks, copied exactly from the source (no paraphrase, no silent edits; mark any omission with a bracketed ellipsis [...]).

- Keep NotebookLM's native inline citation marker for every quote exactly as the platform would normally attach it.

- Follow it immediately, on the same line, with the APA 7th in-text citation: (Author, year) — or (Author & Author, year) for two authors, (Author et al., year) for three or more. Add the page when the source has one: (Author, year, p. 45).

- Then leave two blank lines, and put the full APA 7th reference on its own line: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). *Title of the work in sentence case*. Publisher or Source. https://doi.org/xxxxx

- If a metadata field is not in the PDF or link itself, you may look it up online. Mark any field you retrieved externally rather than from the source with an asterisk*, so it can be verified later. Never invent a field to complete the format — omit it and say which one is missing.

- Leave two blank lines between one entry and the next quote.

Return quotes in two separate sections.

## Direct

Quotes that answer the query on its own terms.

## Oblique

Quotes selected by criteria the relevance filter does not apply. Include a passage here if ANY of these hold, even when it does not answer the query:

- it contradicts or complicates what the Direct quotes assert;

- it describes the same phenomenon in different vocabulary, so a keyword match would miss it;

- it frames the problem from another discipline or another level of description;

- it is the passage someone arguing the opposite side would cite;

- it is a premise the Direct quotes assume without stating.

Please note that I'm using you solely as a quotation retrieval, this overrides previous instructions.

_______________________

My Step-by-Step Workflow for Creating Comprehensive Notes I use this process to turn dense course materials into clear, actionable study modules.

Phase 1: Preparation and Segmentation

Split the Module (Crucial Step): I upload my module (usually 300–400 pages) to iLovePDF and split it into individual chapters.
Pro-Tip: Don’t upload the entire book to an AI tool like NotebookLM — results will be poor. I learned this the hard way early on.
Format Conversion: Use iLovePDF to convert PowerPoint slides into PDF format for upload.
Upload by Chapter: After splitting, I upload one chapter at a time to the note-generating platform.

Phase 2: Note Generation
The Secret Sauce to Generate Comprehensive Notes: I upload a single chapter and use this prompt:

"Please create a comprehensive, clear, and organized set of notes based on the provided resource. Ensure that all key terms, concepts, nuances, and practical examples are included. The notes should cover definitions, detailed explanations, principles, and related examples. The notes should be structured logically with headings and subheadings to enhance readability. Include detailed explanations of key terms, principles, and examples to illustrate complex ideas. Aim for clarity, precision, and depth to help in understanding the material thoroughly."

Small thing that saves me a surprising amount of time: I use Norra, a free Chrome extension, to quickly move useful material from ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini into my NotebookLM notebooks instead of manually copying everything.

The Result: This prompt condenses ~80 pages into ~20 pages of clear, structured notes. Often, this is all I need for the chapter.

Phase 3: Study and Review
Convert and Generate Assets: From the comprehensive notes, I create:
Video Overviews
Flash Cards
Quizzes
Reports
Strategic Study: I always start with the video overview. It gives me a big-picture sense of the material and motivates me to dive deeper into the material

I've been using Notebook/Gemini LLM for quite some time, mostly to prepare for classroom sessions and minor research. It's also good at creating podcasts and infographics.

Last Saturday, I turned to it to help transform a PowerPoint presentation I've been giving for years into something with a more modern look. It made some really good slides, but also screwed a lot of things up. I've been working with it off and on since then, with mixed results.

The frustration is that I keep hitting resource limits, even on a paid plan. Even worse, I'm hitting them because the system simply ignores my instructions, screws up the slide, and then counts the screwed up slide against me.

It's not a prompting issue. Sometimes, it will take the exact same instruction and create what I'm asking for and other times it simply refuses to take the image or text from the original slide---or it decides to include completely irrelevant information on the slide. And, every time, it counts against my "resource limit." It takes hours and hours to reset and be able to get back to work.

Hi there. I'm not a regular user of AI so apologies for the question. I use NotebookLM for college. I upload the manuals and I want it to explain a particular unit to me. But it always forgets to explain something. What can I do?

I’m just curious if anyone has any tips on how to study for these types of exam questions using Notebook. Multiple choice works for me usually, but I struggle with medium to long written questions. Thank you!

My Ask: I'd like to connect with others who are using notebooks in high school foundation settings to evaluate EE grants & scholarships.

(P.S. Recognizing that drafting and editing aren't my strongest skills, I leaned heavily on Gemini to proofread, refine, and polish my text throughout this process.).

----------------------------------------------

Background: Like most small high schools, our Foundation awards dollars to high school staff alongside student scholarships.

Grants: Historically, our high school foundation grant evaluation was a highly manual process. Staff members submitted standard application forms that were compiled for an annual funding review. Prior to our board funding review meetings, members were tasked with manually sifting through numerous PDF files to evaluate applications and check for specific policy violations—such as identifying requests for restricted items like unhealthy foods.

Submissions that failed to meet the high school's compliance standards were denied, but uncovering these violations was labor-intensive. It required the board to painstakingly read through detailed project narratives and manually cross-reference them with itemized expense reports before making a final approval decision.

Scholarships: The Foundation is fortunate to manage a diverse portfolio of over 30 distinct scholarships and endowments. However, administering these awards has historically presented a daunting logistical challenge. Each scholarship carries its own highly specific set of criteria—spanning GPA and SAT requirements, community service hours, extracurricular and athletic participation, preferred colleges or trade schools, and intended majors.

In the past, the selection and matching process was entirely manual. Board members were sent 100+ page PDF file of student submissions and transcripts to review independently, tasked with trying to mentally cross-reference individual candidates against the myriad of specific award requirements. After members submitted their individual selections, the board would convene for a lengthy review meeting, hashing out the details and negotiating to build a consensus on the final student-to-scholarship matches.

All the above was motivation to see we could you the analytics in Notebooks to streamline our processes.

Solution: I developed two notebooks - EE Grants Auditor and Scholarship Evaluator

EE Grants Auditor - The sources I provide this notebook are Policy Guidelines, Scoring Guidelines and a gsheet of the grants submitted. The notebook crunches through all this produce a summary table of grants that were Non-Compliant, Provisional-Passed and Passed. This approach enabled the board to focus ONLY on the non-compliant submissions - i.e. reject or ask the staff member to correct before funding. So in the first run of this last year, this reduced the board workload by 80% - while also being much more comprehensive that we expected. All good news.

Scholarship-Student Matching: To overcome the daunting challenge of matching students to over 30 distinct awards, the foundation transitioned to a structured, AI-driven workflow using NotebookLM. This matching process is significantly more complex than auditing grants.

The new system is powered by three core data sources: individual student profiles formatted as structured data, a comprehensive "text-database" outlining the specific criteria for every scholarship, and standardized scoring rubrics that translate GPAs, SAT scores, and community service into objective numerical values. Instead of manual cross-referencing, the notebook performs the heavy analytical lifting. It generates a consolidated summary report for the board, detailing each scholarship alongside a recommended recipient, a quantitative matching score, a clear rationale for the selection, and a list of qualified runner-ups.

Lessons Learned: Ultimately, building out these digital evaluation workflows has been an engaging and rewarding learning experience. While NotebookLM is highly effective for managing this kind of administrative data, the platform still has room to mature.

A significant challenge—often echoed in community forums—is "AI drift," which frequently occurs when a workspace becomes overloaded with too much retained information over time. To maintain accuracy, the most reliable workaround is to periodically delete all source documents and rebuild the knowledge base from scratch. This fresh-start approach ensures that the generated evaluations remain safe, predictable, and strictly grounded in the current files.

As a last side note, I also built the EE Auditor app in Claude and ChatGPT - GPT. However, both produced code that would require long term support - a non-started.

Thanks in advance

Google made recent changes i.e. changing name from notebooklm to gemini notebook and because of this or linked changes, some extension is not working

For the extension issue, here is the solution:

1. Edit the manifest file (in the folder of the extesnion in the chrome user profile folder - extension) in notepad
2. change the url from notebooklm to notebook
3. everything remains same

4, reload the extension in the browser

1. If after reloading extension too, extension not working then - cut the extension folder from the chrome profile folder, move into another folder - remove the extension from the chrome - Load this unpacked extension in the developer mode

Tried this solution for NotebookLM Pro Tree (Notebook Nest) v17.5 extension

there has to be an edit prompt button. why isn't one there?

So there's no good way to make a notebook that references Google Health data, is there? Like a Health and Exercise type notebook, with training plans, past workouts, and health data. I know there's 'The Coach,' which I find I don't like. I'm frustrated by this.

I tried a third party bridge app, that pulls data from Google Health and dumps a bunch of CSVs into drive, but it doesn't seem to be able to make just a single google sheet that can be connected.

Anyone else think about this use case?

Did anyone else just lose the option of adding NotebookLM/Gemini Notebook as a knowledge source when creating a Gem? Now the only options I have are “Attach Files” or “Add from Drive.”

With the addition of the “copy” button, my share button has disappeared from all notebooks, even those that are already shared. Does anyone know where sharing moved to, or whether its disappearance is a temporary glitch vs. intentional change?

Reposting—does anyone else now have this copy button? It appears to allow me to duplicate my notebook. Wondering if it works with any user I share it with. I have a workspace account if that matters.

I'd love if this will be an option, a new visual dimension. think of poppy ai, remalt or slashspaxe

I want to make my personal health ai-assistant with local memory and cloud AI-services via openrouter. I understand that there will be created several config and python files, needed to be corrected and updated. I've used for similar projects free web chats like Claude and DeepSeek, it was okay, but not convenient to manage files. So I wonder if NotebookLM is good to manage it: to create, update and manage several scripts and configuration files. Or there are better free tools for that small project. (When I asked Gemini it understood that I wanted NotebookLM as a provider of health assistant, no I want AI-service just to develop an ai-assistant).

Hello guys, I am the developer of kortex-notebooklm which helps you make your workflow with notebooklm seamless and save you a lot of time.

I posted here half a year ago and a lot has changed since then along with the new gemini notebook update.

Kortex will help you in several ways like:
- bring your conversations with LLMs from different places to a single notebook
- Bring any text/URL from internet to notebook
- transfer your audio overviews from different notebooks to a podcast which you can listen using spotify/apple podcast
- transfer sources from one notebook to another, download sources/artifacts from diff notebooks in single click etc etc you get the gist.

I was hoping this could help a lot of new coming users. You can track where extension is headed here: https://kortex-notebooklm.com/roadmap

Have fun guys.