For some time, I was worried that NotebookLM was at risk of losing what made it special. While it had expanded its functionality, certain features felt under-baked and didn't work as well as I had hoped.

However, thanks to some polished improvements and new integrations, I feel positive about the platform's future once again. And it's thanks to a few features that proved I was wrong about where NotebookLM was heading.

Custom reports

The possibilities feel endless

NotebookLM reports can do more than you expect, and custom reports make this feature feel extremely versatile. With reports, you can generate a variety of content formats using your sources. Custom reports expand on this, so you can use prompts and documents to create content that meets specific requirements.

I like to use custom reports to generate glossaries of important terms related to my research and projects, as well as potential FAQs. But I also adapt the reports according to my notebook.

For example, I used my garden care notebook to create a watering schedule with the custom report feature. This made it easy to summarize all the information in my sources in a simple way that suits my needs.

Cinematic Video Overviews

A much-needed upgrade for Video Overviews

When Video Overviews first launched in NotebookLM, I was underwhelmed by the feature. While it was interesting, trying the feature across different notebooks made me realize how similar the videos appeared. Essentially, the overviews were narrated slideshows. Furthermore, the generated videos didn't seem to differ much based on prompting.

However, NotebookLM recently introduced Cinematic Video Overviews. These videos are meant to be more engaging and immersive. When generating my first videos using the feature, the difference was apparent.

I no longer felt like I was simply watching a slideshow. Images directly related to the topic, not just tangential decor. At the same time, it also didn't feel like these videos were AI slop due to their focus on lightly animated visuals rather than attempts to replicate footage.

Slide Decks

Another feature Google has improved

Part of my concerns around NotebookLM was that Google would continue to choose to introduce new features rather than refining existing ones. However, Slide Decks are an example of a feature that has benefited from polish.

Even when they were first introduced, Slide Decks were pretty impressive. But the feature has also benefitted from improvements to the user experience. For example, Google solved one of the hurdles of the feature by introducing a way to edit generated slides. This saves users from having to generate the entire presentation all over again.

While you might assume that Slide Decks are just for presentations, this is yet again another feature that does more than you expect. It is one of the few NotebookLM features that allows the AI tool to generate images, which has a range of applications.

For example, I was able to use it to create a visual guide for exercises I should do for the neck pain I experience from fibromyalgia. Before I had to rely on the AI's description of these exercises and stretches, which could be difficult to visualize in my mind.

I've also used it to generate a useful guide for watering the plants in my garden. This works better for me than a wall of text as it's easier to scan through the summary in the slides.

Syncing with Gemini

Chats become sources

With Notebooks in Gemini, your chats with the AI get synced as sources in the corresponding notebook in NotebookLM. I didn't really expect much from this feature until I tried it out.

I soon realized that it helped me add important context to NotebookLM that my sources were missing. It helped me troubleshoot plant issues, which in turn transformed the guides that I generated from NotebookLM.

While it's not something I'd use with every notebook, it's an extremely handy feature that allows you to easily integrate Gemini's web access into your NotebookLM sources. I find this more useful than attempting to use NotebookLM's research feature to surface relevant sources that I can add to notebooks.

Luckily, if Gemini does hallucinate, you can delete the chat from your notebook or not include it in your sources in NotebookLM. I appreciate this control over the feature, since NotebookLM's accuracy is one of its biggest strengths.

NotebookLM still has some drawbacks

I'm a lot less worried about NotebookLM's future than I was a few months ago — and that's mostly down to the introduction and improvement of features that prove how versatile NotebookLM is. However, this doesn't mean the tool is perfect.

As much as I love some of these features, I also notice that the generation of some content takes a very long time. This is especially noticeable when it comes to Cinematic Video Overviews. My hope is that Google will continue to refine NotebookLM and introduce features that enhance its already powerful tools.