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For researchers

Do a week of reading in an afternoon

Practical ways PhD students, academics and analysts use Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) with NotebookTools: get every source in fast, keep projects organised, and get answers you can cite.

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Works with your AI chats
  • ChatGPT
  • Claude
  • Gemini
  • Perplexity
  • Grok
  • Kimi

Practical uses

10 ways to use it this week

01

Run a literature review in one sitting

The job: You have 30 papers open in tabs and a deadline.

  1. Open the Bulk tab and add your open tabs, or paste a list of paper links.
  2. Import them all into one notebook in a single run.
  3. Ask cross-paper questions; every answer cites the paper it came from.
Bulk importPrompt library
02

Keep one living notebook per project

The job: Projects sprawl across dozens of notebooks with no structure.

  1. Put each notebook in a project folder (Thesis, Grant, Lab meeting).
  2. Tag notebooks by theme, then filter the table to just those.
  3. Watch the source meter so a notebook never silently hits the 50-source limit.
Notebooks table
03

Turn lecture and conference playlists into notes

The job: The best explanation of a method is a 90-minute talk on YouTube.

  1. Open the playlist or channel and import every video in one click.
  2. Ask for a summary of each talk with the claims it makes.
  3. Compare what different speakers say about the same method.
YouTube importBulk import
04

Save quotes with their source while you read

The job: You find the perfect sentence and lose where it came from.

  1. Highlight text on any page and send it to your notebook from the right-click menu.
  2. The quote keeps its page title and link as a source.
  3. Ask Gemini Notebook to group your saved quotes by argument.
Highlights
05

Bring your AI chats into the evidence

The job: Your best brainstorming happened in ChatGPT or Claude, outside your notebook.

  1. Open the conversation and click Import.
  2. The whole chat lands in your notebook as one clean source.
  3. Check its claims against your papers, with citations.
AI chat import
06

Follow the debate, not just the papers

The job: Preprints get discussed on X and Reddit long before journals catch up.

  1. Import a thread or discussion from X or Reddit as a source.
  2. Keep it next to the paper it discusses.
  3. Ask where the community agrees or disagrees with the authors.
X & social importWebpage import
07

Keep sources current and duplicate-free

The job: Shared Google Docs change, and the same PDF sneaks in twice.

  1. Check Drive sources for updates and refresh the stale ones.
  2. Scan the notebook for duplicate sources and remove them in bulk.
  3. Search, sort and export the source list for your bibliography.
Drive refreshManage sources
08

Reuse prompts that work for your field

The job: You retype the same careful prompt in every notebook.

  1. Save prompts like "list every statistic with its source" to your library.
  2. Type / in the chat box to insert one.
  3. Share the same prompts with your lab so everyone asks the same way.
Prompt library
09

Export answers into your notes and drafts

The job: Copying a long, cited answer out of the chat breaks the formatting.

  1. Use Export in the notebook ribbon.
  2. Save the last answer as a clean PDF or Word file, or the whole chat as Markdown, HTML or PDF.
  3. Drop it into Obsidian, Zotero notes or your draft.
Chat exportAnswer to PDF / Word
10

Turn findings into a talk and a write-up

The job: The lab meeting is tomorrow and the slides don't exist yet.

  1. Generate a slide deck in Studio with a style from the slide prompts.
  2. Turn the deck into a written report with every slide as a figure.
  3. Make an Audio Overview to review the material on your commute.
Studio & podcastsSlides to blog

The workflow

From scattered sources to finished work

  1. 1CollectImport papers, talks, threads and your AI chats in bulk.
  2. 2OrganiseOne notebook per project, foldered and tagged.
  3. 3AskCross-source questions with citations, using saved prompts.
  4. 4ShareExport cited answers, slides and reports.

Questions

Is Gemini Notebook good for literature reviews?

Yes. It answers only from the sources you add and cites the passage behind each claim. NotebookTools makes it practical at scale: import dozens of papers at once and keep each project in its own organised notebook.

How many papers can one notebook hold?

Up to 50 sources per notebook on the standard plan. NotebookTools shows a source meter on every notebook so you can split a project before it fills up.

Does it work with my PDFs and Google Drive?

Yes. Add PDFs and Drive files as sources as usual; NotebookTools adds bulk import, Drive refresh checks and duplicate scans on top.

Is NotebookTools free for students?

Yes. Every feature works on the free plan. Pro is a one-time lifetime upgrade.

Try it on your next project

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