If you're big on productivity tools, especially AI-powered ones, you've likely heard of Google's personalized research assistant, NotebookLM. I've been using the tool since Google was testing it as an experimental Labs project under the codename "Project Tailwind." Given how long I've been using NotebookLM, I assumed I had already figured out the best way to use it, but I was wrong.

One of the biggest NotebookLM mistakes I made, which ended up costing me hours, was not using the tool alongside other productivity apps. I was always under the impression that NotebookLM was used best in isolation. I only realized how wrong I was when I paired it with Perplexity, and noticed the two tools work seamlessly together.

Google Docs is my primary writing app, and I sometimes use it for note-taking as well. So, I decided to pair NotebookLM with Google Docs, and the combination instantly made my workflow feel smarter and more connected.

NotebookLM ends my constant Google Docs tab-switching

One NotebookLM tab beats juggling endless Docs

Whether I'm working on a college assignment or drafting an article, I always have a ton of tabs open. Sometimes, I might even have over a hundred tabs open, and a lot of those tabs include different Google Docs I need to reference or just keep on hand. If you use tools like Google Docs often, you’ve probably noticed that switching between those tabs can come with a brief wait, especially when they’ve been idle for a while. Though there’s typically a bit of a wait with any tab you're switching to, Google Docs has been noticeably slower in my experience. It might not seem like a big deal at first, but when you're doing it dozens of times in a single session just to double-check a single fact, it adds up and breaks your flow.

That’s exactly one of the problems NotebookLM has helped solve for me. Instead of having multiple Google Docs open in separate tabs, I add them all to a single NotebookLM notebook, and the tool lets me interact with all of them in one place, and only takes up a single tab. For instance, if I want to double-check a fact from a certain Google Doc, I can simply copy and paste the fact I’m looking to verify and ask NotebookLM which document it came from, or whether it even exists at all. It quickly scans all the documents in my notebook and gives me an answer, complete with citations and links to the exact sections.

With NotebookLM’s free version, you’re limited to adding 50 sources. The limit goes up to 300 for the premium tier, but an easy way around it if you don’t want to upgrade is to create another notebook once you hit the limit. Sure, you won’t be able to interact with everything you need within a single notebook, but it’s still way better than having dozens of Docs open in separate tabs.

NotebookLM saves you the hassle of manually updating sources

No more deleting and re-uploading docs

I've paired NotebookLM with other "writing" tools like Apple Notes before, but there's one big reason why I'd always recommend Google Docs over them when using NotebookLM. Let's say you created a report in Apple Notes and want to upload it as a source for your NotebookLM notebook.

You'd need to export it as a PDF first, and then upload it to the notebook. If you end up editing your Apple Note and want NotebookLM to use the latest version of the document, you'd have to export it as a PDF again. Then, you'd need to head to your current notebook, remove the existing PDF, and upload the new one.

If you were using Google Docs for the same report instead, you'd only need to add the Google Doc as a source once. If you update the Doc and want NotebookLM to reference the most recent version, all you need to do is go to the relevant NotebookLM notebook, click on the Google Doc in the Sources panel, and hit Click to sync with Google Drive. It's that easy. No exporting, deleting, or re-uploading. Just one click, and you're working with the latest version of your document.

Google Docs and NotebookLM are perfect for school notes, reading logs, and more

Best for notes that keep evolving

Since all you need to do is hit one button to sync your updates and don’t need to worry about removing and re-uploading a Google Doc every time you tweak it, using it as a source just makes the most sense for certain documents. For instance, NotebookLM is filled with a bunch of studying-focused features like Audio Overviews and Mind Maps.

They’re the kind of features that work best with notes you’ve jotted down during lectures. When you’re using a PDF as a source (or anything that’s not a Google Doc), you’ll need to re-upload the file every time you make an edit, which quickly gets annoying if you’re constantly updating your material. This makes Google Docs the better choice for documents you expect to update frequently.

Other than taking my notes on Docs and using them as sources, I’ve also been maintaining different “logs,” like reading logs for books I’d like to read down the line, progress trackers for assignments, and even Docs to maintain the hundreds of writing and content ideas I get, all within Google Docs.

Since I can keep updating them as I go and just hit sync in NotebookLM to reflect the changes, it’s become a super streamlined way to keep everything organized and searchable without having to juggle multiple versions. I usually upload these “logs” right to my Everything notebook, which I’ve written a detailed article about separately.

Searching documents using NotebookLM is better than Ctrl+F in most cases

NotebookLM understands what you're trying to find

Before NotebookLM, I always relied on Ctrl/Cmd + F to quickly find what I was looking for in a document. Here's the thing: Ctrl/Cmd + F only works when you remember the exact word or phrase you used in the section or sentence you're trying to find. If you can't recall it (even if it’s stuck on the tip of your tongue), it's basically useless. NotebookLM, on the other hand, understands content.

You can type in what you're looking for in natural language, and NotebookLM will attempt to hunt down exactly what you need in seconds. In my experience, it’s always managed to find exactly what I was looking for. You don't need to bother phrasing it the exact same way it appears in the document, which makes it a solid choice.

The best part is that NotebookLM always includes a citation, too. So, if you want to double-check the context or quote the source directly, you can just click the citation and jump straight to the exact section in the document.

Google Docs is a hundred times better with NotebookLM

I've paired a lot of productivity tools with NotebookLM before, but I'm yet to find one that works as well with it as Google Docs does. Of course, you can still use all of NotebookLM's iconic features when you use a Google Doc as a source for a NotebookLM notebook, including Audio Overviews and Mind Maps.