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How to Get Started with NotebookLM: A Complete Beginner's Guide

Learn NotebookLM from scratch—account setup, creating notebooks, uploading documents, asking questions, and exporting your work in one step-by-step walkthrough.

Author：NotebookLM
Level：Beginner Estimated reading time：15 minutes

How to Get Started with NotebookLM

This tutorial walks you through NotebookLM from zero to productive use. Whether you are a student, researcher, or knowledge worker, follow the steps below to get up and running with this AI research assistant and smart note-taking tool.

Step 1: Visit and Sign In

  1. Open notebooklm.google.com
  2. Sign in with your Google account (any Gmail account can use the free tier)
  3. After your first login, you will land on the NotebookLM home screen

Step 2: Create a Notebook

A notebook is the core container in NotebookLM. Each notebook can hold multiple source documents.

  1. Click the New notebook button
  2. Name your notebook—for example, “Machine Learning Literature Review”
  3. Once the notebook is created, you can start adding sources

Step 3: Add Source Materials

NotebookLM supports several types of source materials:

  • PDF files: Drag and drop to upload, or import from Google Drive
  • Google Docs / Slides: Select directly from the cloud
  • Web URLs: Paste a link and NotebookLM will fetch the content automatically
  • YouTube videos: Transcripts are pulled automatically
  • Plain text: Paste text content directly

Tip: The free plan supports up to 50 sources per notebook. Organize notebooks by topic for easier management.

Step 4: Chat with AI

After your sources are added, you can use the chat panel to:

  • Ask questions: “What are the main contributions of this paper?”
  • Generate content: “Create an FAQ based on these materials”
  • Build study guides: “Make an exam review outline from these sources”
  • Audio Overview: Generate a two-host podcast-style audio summary

Every AI response includes citation links—click them to jump to the supporting passage in your sources.

Step 5: Export and Share

When your research is ready, you can:

  • Export reports as PDF, Word, Excel, and other formats
  • Generate data visualizations
  • Share notebooks with teammates (view or edit permissions)

Next Steps

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