Most productivity tools fall into two camps for me: either they’re great at organizing information but not so great at analysis, or they’re powerful for insights but lack structure. Microsoft Loop sits firmly in the first camp in that it’s easy to use and flexible enough to make planning rather enjoyable. But once you’ve filled it with content, that’s kind of where it stops. So I paired it with my favorite AI assistant, NotebookLM.

Pairing Loop with NotebookLM turns all my static data into something more actionable and insightful. Loop handles the structure, things like brainstorming and project management. While NotebookLM is like the little brain that sits on top of everything, summarizing and spotting patterns. It’s not an official integration, but it works seamlessly once I set it up.

What is Microsoft Loop?

An intuitive project manager and note-taking tool

Loop is Microsoft’s answer to Notion and Coda, a modular productivity app built around “components”. These are dynamic content blocks like lists, tables, checklists, and pages that you can drop anywhere and edit in real time, and you insert them using the universal slash command. Plus, you can share components across Microsoft 365 apps like Teams or Word. These components sync seamlessly and are dead simple to create and navigate, which is what sets Loop apart from other note-taking and productivity tools. Updating a task in one place reflects it everywhere it’s embedded.

Loops functions in a hierarchy, meaning it’s organized into workspaces > pages > subpages > components, which gives you both macro and micro control over your projects. This framework contributes to how easy it is to navigate the interface. What I love most about Loop, however, is that it has a bunch of useful templates. If you don’t want to build a page from scratch, definitely check out its template library. Furthermore, it has extensive collaboration features, making it a great choice for teams, too. So if you’re brainstorming content or managing projects, or honestly just need a clean space to take some notes, Loop handles it seamlessly.

Setting up Loop with NotebookLM

It’s simpler than expected

Firstly, I created a separate notebook for my Loop content. Then I headed over to Loop and decided which pages I wanted to include. I ended up going with pages that pertained to my design and writing projects.

Because there are no official integrations for Loop and NotebookLM, I thought it was going to be yet another one of those manual copy-paste methods. But thanks to NotebookLM’s seamless integration with Google Drive, I was able to get my loop documents into the AI in no time. On any Loop page, there will be a three-dot menu option at the top right, and clicking it will reveal some options. Selecting “Print & PDF Export” directs me to the export window, from where I can get the Loop pages onto my computer as PDF files.

I always make sure to export to a folder that’s synced with my Google Drive - I created a separate one for my Loop documents. Once everything is on the drive, I can fetch it directly from within NotebookLM when adding sources. I don’t even have to dig for it since the new drive search function lets you find it in seconds. And that’s all there is to it. If you don’t use Google Drive, exporting the PDFs locally and adding them manually as sources will do just fine, too.

Using them together

Putting the AI to use

NotebookLM’s source guide automatically summarizes all my Loop contents. I skim these first to get an overview of everything, then I start prompting the AI. The first thing I like to do is have the AI surface important deadlines, and I note them down in the Notes to have a more permanent reminder in the notebook. Then I start asking for patterns to get better insights into my projects. Here are some of the prompts I’ve used:

Which color palettes am I leaning on the most in these design projects?

Are there recurring bottlenecks in my design workflow?

All of these insights and snippets go straight into the Notes section where I can synthesize the information a little better. Another tactic I use is prompting NotebookLM with “act as a” [specific role] when reviewing my Loop pages. This lets me analyze my data from different perspectives, for example, a project manager or a design mentor. Another type of prompt I use for spotting missing information is:

Which tasks in these pages lack deadlines or additional commentary?

Once I’ve gathered my summaries and overviews from NotebookLM, I actually go back into Loop to course-correct. I’ll fill in all the missing data and create new components with additional information. As my Loop pages fill up throughout the week, I’ll actually re-export them, put them back into NotebookLM, and repeat the process.

Pairing them just makes things easier

Loop is already a decent project manager and I’ve been getting by fine with it on its own. But pairing it with NotebookLM speeds up the process of finding missing details or spotting patterns in my work. It lets me know where my projects lack, and where I can tone it down a bit, too. If you’re using Loop, I recommend giving this combo a shot.