NotebookLM is Google's free AI research assistant. Upload PDFs, YouTube videos, audio recordings, spreadsheets, or web pages. Ask questions and get cited answers that trace to the exact passage — no hallucination, no training data leakage. This one-page guide covers setup, pricing, sharing, troubleshooting, and your first prompt.
NotebookLM = free, source-grounded AI from Google. Upload documents → ask questions → get cited answers. The Studio panel generates podcasts, slide decks, mind maps, flashcards, quizzes, reports, infographics, and data tables. This guide covers account setup (5 min), all 4 pricing tiers, notebook sharing, 8 common troubleshooting fixes, and 1 free prompts you can use immediately. No need to visit four separate pages.
Select your role — each links to the section most relevant to you
Upload papers → extract themes → identify gaps → generate flashcards, quizzes, and cited study guides.
Upload audio + PDFs + spreadsheets → cross-format queries → slide deck + executive briefing in minutes.
Upload documents → generate slide decks with AI visuals → revise with Pencil UI → export PPTX. Zero design skills required.
Paste video URLs → auto-transcribe → build curriculum decks with timestamps and teaching cues.
3 questions → we route you to the exact section and prompt for your experience level and use case.
From account creation to your first cited answer — under 5 minutes
Go to notebooklm.google.com. Sign in with any Google account (personal Gmail or Workspace). Click New Notebook. Free. No credit card. Available in 180+ regions.
Add PDFs, Google Docs, YouTube URLs (auto-transcribed), audio files (MP3/WAV — auto-transcribed), Google Sheets, web page URLs, images, or pasted text. One focused topic per notebook produces the best results. Free tier supports up to 50 sources.
Type a question in the chat panel. NotebookLM answers from your sources only, with clickable citations. Click any citation to jump to the exact passage. Try: "What are the main themes across all sources in this notebook?"
Click the Studio panel on the right. Select any of the 9 tools — Audio Overview, Slide Deck, Mind Map, Flashcards, Quiz, Reports, Video Overview, Infographic, or Data Table. Each transforms your sources into a different output format with one click.
Download Studio outputs as PPTX, PDF, or audio files. Share notebooks with collaborators (they need a Google account). Generate an Audio Overview for your commute. Export a Slide Deck and apply your brand theme in PowerPoint.
9 formats — NotebookLM is no longer just a text tool, it's a universal knowledge converter
Every tool is available on the free tier. Click, optionally customize with a prompt, and generate.
AI presentations with Nano Banana Pro visuals. Export PPTX or PDF. Most popular tool.
Two AI hosts discuss your sources as a podcast. 8–20 min. 80+ languages.
Narrated slide-style videos with AI visuals. Whiteboard, watercolor, kawaii styles.
Interactive concept diagram. Click nodes to explore deeper connections.
Study guides, timelines, FAQs, briefing docs. Full source citations.
Auto-generated Q&A cards. Export to Anki for spaced repetition.
Multiple choice, short answer, essay. Complete answer keys with citations.
Visual summaries. Adjustable detail, orientation, language. Shareable.
Structured extraction into clean tables. One-click Google Sheets export.
Upload your sources, type a prompt, get a branded presentation in 90 seconds
NotebookLM's Slide Deck tool is the fastest path from research to presentation. Upload your documents, click Slide Deck in Studio, and NotebookLM generates a complete presentation with AI-generated visuals (powered by Nano Banana Pro), speaker notes, and cited content — in about 90 seconds. Export to PPTX, apply your brand template in PowerPoint, and you're ready to present.
The Pencil UI lets you revise individual slides in seconds. Click any slide, type "Make this more concise" or "Add a comparison chart," and watch it update. No regenerating the entire deck. This is the workflow that turns a 4-hour presentation prep into a 15-minute task.
All core features are free. Paid plans expand usage limits and add customization.
| Plan | Price | Notebooks | Sources / NB | Daily chats | Audio / day | Deep Research |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 | 50 | 50 | 3 | 10/month |
| Plus | ~$14/mo | 200 | 100 | ~500 | 20 | Higher |
| Pro | $19.99/mo | 500 | 300 | 500+ | 50+ | Higher |
| Ultra | $249.99/mo | 500 | 600 | 5,000 | 200 | 200/day |
Private sharing, public links, and Chat-only mode for client delivery
| Sharing type | Who can access | Can they see sources? | Plan required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private (default) | Only you | N/A | Free |
| Private sharing | Specific Gmail users | Yes (full access) | Free |
| Public link | Anyone with link | Yes | Free |
| Chat-only | Invited recipients | No (sources hidden) | Plus+ |
Navigate to the notebook in your dashboard.
A lock icon indicates private. It changes to shared or globe when sharing is enabled.
Private: Enter collaborator email addresses. Public: Toggle the public link and copy the URL.
Plus subscribers can share in "Chat-only" mode — recipients interact with the AI without seeing your source documents. Ideal for client delivery.
Most issues are fixable in under 2 minutes
Your question asks about something not in your uploaded documents.
Sources contain language that triggers a safety filter (even in academic contexts).
Age not verified, country not supported, or Workspace admin hasn't enabled it.
File exceeds 500K words / 200 MB, PDF is copy-protected, YouTube has no captions.
With many sources, NotebookLM retrieves the most relevant first and may skip some.
Source content is too short for individual citations.
You've hit your daily quota (free: 3 Audio Overviews, 50 chats/day).
Conversation history shapes responses.
Upload at least 2–3 sources before trying these. Replace [BRACKETS] with your details.
The prompts below unlock the complete quick-start system ↓
Cross-source synthesis, multimodal extraction, slide optimization, Studio customization, troubleshooting diagnostics, and advanced multi-AI workflows — for researchers, business professionals, and educators.
One-time · Instant access
Unlock All Prompts — $88.99 one-timeGoogle's free AI research assistant that reads your uploaded documents and answers questions grounded exclusively in those sources — with citations. Runs on Gemini 3. Available in 180+ regions. Unlike ChatGPT, it never hallucinates because it only answers from your materials.
NotebookLM answers only from your documents using RAG. ChatGPT answers from training data and the internet. NotebookLM provides clickable citations for every answer. ChatGPT may mix its knowledge with your uploads. For a side-by-side table, see our Setup Guide.
PDFs, Google Docs, Google Slides, web URLs, YouTube videos (auto-transcribed), audio files (MP3, WAV), Google Sheets, images, and pasted text. Up to 50 sources on free, 300 on Pro.
Yes. All core features including chat, 9 Studio tools, and 50 sources per notebook are free. Plus (~$14/mo), Pro ($19.99/mo), and Ultra ($249.99/mo) add higher limits and premium features. See the pricing table above.
Yes. Paste any YouTube URL → auto-transcribed → fully queryable with timestamps. Multiple videos become a cross-referenceable knowledge base.
Yes — private sharing (invite by email), public link, or Chat-only mode (Plus+). Collaborators can add sources but cannot modify your originals. See the sharing section above.
Your sources may be too general. Add more specific sources, ask more targeted questions, or add a context note explaining your role and goal. Re-upload specific pages of large PDFs that index incompletely. See troubleshooting above.
When you need more than 50 daily chats, more than 50 sources per notebook, more audio/video overviews per day, or customization features like tone control. The free tier is genuinely powerful for most users.
Yes, if your Google Workspace admin has enabled the service. Contact your admin and ask them to turn on NotebookLM in the Workspace admin console.
Audio Overview (AI podcast), Video Overview (narrated slides), Mind Map (concept diagram), Reports (study guides/timelines/FAQs), Flashcards (Anki-exportable), Quiz (assessments), Slide Deck (presentations), Infographic (visual summaries), and Data Table (structured extraction). All available on the free tier.