I’ve lost count of how many note-taking apps I’ve tried at this point. Many end up missing the mark, but some have earned a permanent spot in my workflow. However, I’m always on the lookout for the next best thing; something that goes beyond storing my notes and that can actually understand them. Given I’ve already tried every note-taker out there, I resorted to a tool that isn’t a notes app: NotebookLM.

NotebookLM has slowly woven itself into my life this year. I do use it as a research and studying tool. But one of my favorite things to do with an app is to use it outside of its intended parameters. So I did a little creative repurposing and turned NotebookLM into a note-taking app. There aren’t any official extensions or automations to do this, so it’s mainly a manual process. Here’s my method of turning NotebookLM into a smart notes app…

How I set up NotebookLM as a notes app

It’s straightforward, but takes some patience

I started by creating a new notebook for each topic that I usually divide my notes into. One for design learning, one for article research, another for medicine, and so on. Each notebook acts as a separate workspace, which keeps things from bleeding together, similar to how I section off my notes in other note apps.

Then it was time to add my notes and materials as sources. I had to start with my existing notes in order to build something readable, so it did take some time hunting down everything I wanted to include from all my different notes apps. This involved various formats, including Google Docs and PDFs that contain longer drafts and research (which you can now search for directly in your Google Drive). I also included text files from my plain text stack, and just copy-pasted text from various places where my notes live (Apple Notes, Obsidian, Notion, etc).

To keep things organized, I gave all my notebooks had clear titles, and ensured that my sources were also labeled correctly so I knew exactly what the contents were. NotebookLM doesn’t have a feature that lets you pin sources, so to keep my most-visited notes at the top of a notebook, I prefixed them with numbers like “01, 02, 03, etc.”

From there, it was just a matter of sticking to this system so I don’t have to keep fetching notes from other apps. So if I need to note something important down, I write it in plain text as a source in the relevant notebook. The issue I anticipated running into here was the source quantity limitations of the free account. But this is where one of NotebookLM’s Studio features came in super handy…

Making the most of the Notes feature

It (kind of) solves the issue of limited sources

Beyond just potentially solving the issue of limited source quantity in NotebookLM, the Notes feature is actually what makes the AI feel more like a note-taking app. I use it as a place to jot down anything relevant to the theme of a notebook, and also to distill information from my prompts within that notebook. So where my sources are more thought-out and thorough, Notes are for snippets. It uses rich text formatting, so I’ve got some options for headers, bolding, italics, bullets, and numbered lists.

The cool thing about NotebookLM’s Notes is that you can turn a note into a source itself, which is what I’ve been doing when a note gets beefed up with enough information. But for the most part, I just use Notes as a jotting pad, and since NotebookLM allows up to 1000 notes per notebook, it kind of solves the issue of limited sources. Not every idea I have needs to get added as a source.

Sources are my main documents, whereas Notes are for the key points and tangential ideas of those documents. The Save to Note feature is also really helpful if I don’t want to retype an answer NotebookLM gave me or scroll to look for it – it automatically generates a new note with the answer, plus includes the auto-citations.

The extensions I use

Some extensions that make the process easier

Even though there aren't any extensions for extending NotebookLM’s use into note-taking, there are some that I use to make adding sources easier. The first is NotebookLM Web Importer. When you come across a site that you want to add as a source, instead of manually adding it, Web Importer lets you add it straight from the page, and you can specify the notebook. Another one I use is the YouTube to NotebookLM extension. This works the same way – add any YouTube video as a source to your chosen notebook.

Both extensions make it easier to collect web links and videos and get them into the relevant notebooks. This way, I don’t have to copy-paste the link to a notes app, and can immediately start synthesizing the information and making notes.

A smarter note-taking app

The part that makes it a smart note-taker

NotebookLM is, of course, primarily an AI research assistant, and this is where the “smart” part comes in. It’s in using it for this original purpose that allows me to turn it into a smart note-taking app. I prompt it to give me better summaries than I could have made myself, and also to give me different perspectives. This then influences the insights I write in Notes. And instead of digging through older notes to find something, NotebookLM can surface it immediately – sifting through old notes and documents is my biggest pain point when it comes to traditional note-taking apps.

Furthermore, with the web extensions, I can feed NotebookLM raw material immediately without having to leave my browser. Ultimately, using NotebookLM as a notes app means I can interact with it; it’s like a living system that reflects my notes back at me with additional context and insights.