Given that NotebookLM is still a relatively new tool, the team has been constantly rolling out updates and features to improve the overall experience and iron out any quirks based on user feedback. If you've been following XDA's NotebookLM coverage (or any other outlet's, really), you’ve probably seen the major updates get plenty of attention, like Video Overviews, Flashcards and Quizzes being introduced, and even Gemini's Deep Research feature being spotted in testing.

Of course, these big headline-worthy updates aren't all that's been happening behind the scenes. In between all these big releases, the team's been slipping in smaller updates and quality-of-life improvements. While you might notice them right away, they all work together to make NotebookLM feel a lot more polished overall. So, I figured, why not take a closer look at some of the tiny changes NotebookLM has made that have been quietly improving your overall experience using the tool?

LaTeX support

If you've been using NotebookLM for studying, especially with material involving mathematical formulas, you may have closed the tool after just a few minutes because of responses like \int_a^b f(t)dt. Well, this isn't the case anymore. Formulas appeared this way because NotebookLM didn't previously render LaTeX, which is a system that displays mathematical notation clearly and accurately. This meant that equations would show as plain text.

As of October 16, NotebookLM officially added LaTeX support. Thanks to this, all equations within your sources now render cleanly. Whether you're simply using the tool's Chat functionality to ask questions about your sources, generating Flashcards to learn formulas, or creating Quizzes to test your understanding, the equations now appear properly formatted!

I've been using NotebookLM to study since it was a Google Labs experiment, and though I still use it for studying, I stopped using it for math after trying it once. Users on Reddit did create various scripts and Chrome extensions to render equations properly, but I never got the opportunity to try them out. However, this goes to show just how many people were hoping for a native solution. With LaTeX now officially supported, all of those workarounds are no longer necessary, and I'm back to using the tool for studying math courses!

Import PDFs and Sheets from Google Drive

Another change the NotebookLM team recently made and announced via a post on X is the ability to import PDFs and Sheets from your Google Drive as sources for your notebooks. Previously, the Google Drive section had two options: Google Docs and Google Slides, which meant you could only add text documents or presentations as sources.

Now, the two buttons have been replaced with a single Google Drive button (under a Google Workspace heading), and you can import both PDFs and Sheets. Before this change, if you wanted to add a PDF from your Drive, you would have to download it locally and then upload it manually. So, it's great that you no longer need to jump through those extra steps. In the same X post, the team also confirmed that DocX support is coming soon.

Resizable panels

A change Simon Tokumin, NotebookLM's lead, announced via a post on X is that you can now resize panels within the interface, giving you more flexibility to adjust the workspace to your needs. Before this change, you could minimize panels, but their size was fixed, limiting how much content you could view at once.

With resizable panels, you can now adjust the Sources, Chat, and Studio panels to your liking. This gives you a lot more control over your workspace, making it easier to focus on the content that matters most and switch between tasks without feeling cramped or restricted.

Ability to view customization prompts

My favorite thing about NotebookLM is that you can customize pretty much everything, including the outputs you generate using Studio, whether it’s audio or video overviews, Flashcards, or Quizzes. Unfortunately, since NotebookLM added the ability to customize outputs using prompts, you haven't been able to revisit the prompt you used once you've typed it… until now. Not being able to do this made it tricky to replicate or tweak your results later.

I often generate a bunch of Audio Overviews and different sets of Flashcards and Quizzes at the same time to get different perspectives and outputs, and not being able to see the prompts afterward made it easy to lose track of what I had used for each version. Now, you can simply click the three vertical dots next to an Audio/Video Overview, Flashcards, or Quiz you generated using a custom prompt, and then click View custom prompt.

More features in the NotebookLM mobile app

One of the first pieces I wrote about NotebookLM was about features I wished would be added. In that piece, I mentioned wanting a NotebookLM mobile app. While that did happen, I've barely opened the app since I installed it.

The reason is that, since launch, the mobile app was very, very overwhelming. It only came with the Audio Overviews feature and the ability to ask questions about your sources, with none of its other learning tools. It felt rushed, and like a work-in-progress.

Since launch, the team has slowly been adding more functionality to the mobile app, gradually bringing it closer to the full experience available on desktop. On October 17, the team announced that the Discover Sources feature is available in the mobile app.

Then, on November 6, they announced that Flashcards and Quizzes are rolling out on the mobile app. With these additions, the mobile app is finally starting to feel like a fully functional extension of the desktop experience.

These subtle changes make a huge difference

What I love about the NotebookLM team is that they actively address user feedback. All of the features and improvements I've mentioned above are ones I've wished for at least once before.