[Summary of New Features] Create Slides and Analyze Data with NotebookLM! A Thorough Explanation of the Evolved Points

Hello, this is the official note editorial department for Google's AI, "Gemini".

Are you already using “NotebookLM”?

It is a convenient tool that allows you to simply upload your own documents, and the AI will understand their content, summarize them, answer questions, and support your brainstorming.

For basic usage, please also refer to this article.

This NotebookLM has evolved even further with recent updates!
It is becoming increasingly easy to use, with an expanded range of file types it can handle, enhanced mobile features, and the ability to link with the Gemini app.

In this article, we will introduce 5 noteworthy new features of NotebookLM and some convenient usage ideas using them.

Evolution Never Stops! 5 Selected New NotebookLM Features

First, we will introduce the main new features added this time, narrowed down to 5 points.

1. Expansion of Addable Sources: Support for Spreadsheets & Word

In addition to PDF and Google Docs, etc., the following formats can now be added as sources.

Google Sheets
Can now be imported directly from Google Drive. You can now handle numerical data and tabular information in NotebookLM as well.

Docx files
You can now upload Word documents directly. This saves the trouble of converting to PDF and allows you to add materials more smoothly.

2. Power-up of Chat Function

The chat function for interacting with AI has also evolved to be easier to use.

Expansion of Chat Customization Character Limit
The number of characters you can instruct the AI with in "Chat Settings" has been significantly expanded from 500 characters to 10,000 characters.

Chat settings can be configured from the settings button in the top right.

In the settings at the top right of the chat field, you can set "Conversation purpose, style, and role definition" to custom and enter instructions.

This allows for detailed persona settings, such as "Act as an expert in XX," and complex instructions.

Chat History Support
Past chat history is now saved, allowing you to continue or delete sessions.

Since it syncs between the mobile and web versions, you can continue a conversation on your smartphone while on the go and check it on your computer after returning home. (*In shared notebooks, chat history is treated as personal.)

③ Significant Expansion of Studio Features

Attractive tools have also been added to the "Studio" feature, which supports organizing materials and outputting results.

Infographic Generation
You can automatically generate visually easy-to-understand infographics based on the content of your sources.

Examples of creating attractive infographics using "magazine-style" prompts are also becoming a hot topic.

To customize the prompt, click the edit button for "Infographic" in the Studio feature.

On the infographic customization screen, add your prompt to the "Describe the infographic you want to create" section and press the "Generate" button.

Slide Presentation Generation
Equipped with Gemini's image generation model "Nano Banana Pro," it automatically creates highly designed slide presentations.

Another feature is that you can freely adjust the design atmosphere to match your own image.

You can create them with a stylish design, or

you can create simple and highly readable slides.

Note/Report Export Feature
You can now export the notes and reports you have created to Google Docs or Sheets with a single click.

You can easily execute this by selecting the export destination from the "... (More)" button next to the created notes or reports in the Studio panel.

Exporting to Google Docs or Google Sheets is possible.

Data Table Generation
You can automatically generate and customize tables from information within your sources. This also supports exporting to Google Sheets.

To customize a data table, click the edit button and provide instructions on what kind of data table to create in the "Describe the data table you want to create" section.

Once generation is complete, it will be output in a table format.

You can export to Google Sheets by clicking "Export to Google Sheets" in the top right of the table.

4. Major Mobile App Update

Usability on smartphones has also been significantly improved.

Directly upload images as sources
You can now directly upload handwritten notes, whiteboards, textbooks, etc., captured with your camera. The AI analyzes the images and utilizes them as text information.

Use of infographics and slides
It is now possible to generate and view infographics and slide materials even from a smartphone.

Save progress for audio overviews
The popular "Audio Overview" feature now saves your playback position.

Even if you close the app, you can resume from where you left off.

5. Enhanced integration with Gemini

You can now directly upload created notebooks to the Gemini app.

Select NotebookLM from the "+" button at the bottom left of the chat.

Select the notebook you want to upload. You can select multiple notebooks.

This greatly expands the range of applications, such as using Gemini's advanced image generation capabilities based on information organized in NotebookLM, or combining it with web searches (online research).

Try it out now! 3 ideas for using the new NotebookLM features

What exactly can you do with the new features? Here are 3 recommended use cases.

Use Case 1: Easily create slide presentations by consolidating scattered materials

"PDF reports, Word manuscripts, website articles... it's hard to organize materials in different formats!" This is exactly when NotebookLM comes in handy.

Workflow

1. Upload related PDFs, Word files (Docx), website URLs, etc., all together as sources.

2. Select "Slide Presentation" from the Studio panel. Give instructions on the content you want to turn into slides.

3. NotebookLM integrates and organizes the content of all your documents and automatically generates presentation slides.

Tasks that previously required copying and pasting from each document are now completed just by uploading the files.
It also organizes the design to be easy to read, significantly reducing the time spent on document creation.

Use Case 2: Link with spreadsheets for data analysis and report creation

You can now also analyze Google Sheets containing numerical data using NotebookLM.

Workflow

1. Import two spreadsheets: 'Sales data by store (numerical)' and 'Customer surveys (qualitative data)'.

2. Data Table Use the feature to integrate the two datasets and list sales and reputation by product.

3. Create 'slide materials' based on the sales analysis results.

By combining not only quantitative data like sales figures but also qualitative data like survey results, you can create slides that include concrete analysis results.

By combining numerical data from spreadsheets with related reports (such as PDFs), you can perform deeper analysis from both 'numerical' and 'qualitative' perspectives.

Use Case 3: Take photos with your smartphone and learn by 'listening' in your spare time

With the enhancement of the mobile app, the efficiency of your input will increase dramatically.

Workflow

1. Take photos of whiteboards during meetings or pages of textbooks you are studying with your smartphone camera and upload them to NotebookLM.

2. Create an 'Audio Overview' to generate AI-powered explanatory audio.
3. Learn by 'listening while doing' with earphones during your commute or while doing chores.

If you have to stop for something, don't worry. Your progress is saved, so you can resume right where you left off later.

The 'video explanation feature,' which explains the content of your materials in a video, is also convenient. For more details, please see this article.

Organize information smartly with the evolved NotebookLM

With this update, NotebookLM has evolved further into a powerful tool that integrates all kinds of information and generates new forms of output.

From business professionals who want to reduce the hassle of creating slides to students who want to study efficiently, it is sure to become a powerful partner that solves the 'problems' of everyone.

If there are any features you haven't used yet, please take this opportunity to try NotebookLM. We hope we can help make your daily information organization more fun and smarter.