How-To Guides

How-To Guides

Best practices and detailed guides for effective use of NotebookLM Quick.

Academic Research Workflow

Streamline your academic research with this proven workflow.

1. Organize by Project

Create separate NotebookLM notebooks for each research project or paper.

  • One notebook per research paper
  • Separate notebooks for literature reviews
  • Dedicated notebooks for specific topics

2. Collect Sources

Use NotebookLM Quick to gather research materials:

  • Generate PDFs from research papers and articles
  • Add Links to online resources and databases
  • Save YouTube Videos of lectures and presentations

3. Process with NotebookLM

Let NotebookLM analyze your sources:

  • Ask questions about your sources
  • Generate summaries and insights
  • Create study guides and notes
  • Export formatted citations

💡 Pro Tip: Generate PDFs from paywalled journal articles you have access to through your institution.

Saving Paywalled Content

⚠️ Important: Only save content you have legitimate access to through subscriptions or memberships.

✅ Appropriate Uses

  • News articles from your paid subscriptions
  • Academic papers through institution access
  • Magazine articles you've purchased
  • Course materials you're enrolled in
  • Professional publications you subscribe to

❌ Inappropriate Uses

  • Bypassing paywalls you haven't paid for
  • Sharing paywalled content with others
  • Circumventing trial limitations
  • Distributing copyrighted material

How to Save Subscriber Content

  1. Log In First: Sign in to the publication's website using your subscription credentials
  2. Access the Article: Navigate to the article and ensure it's fully loaded
  3. Generate PDF: Click NotebookLM Quick → Generate PDF
  4. Personal Use Only: Use for your personal research, study, or reference

Best Practices

For Research Papers

  1. Use Generate PDF to save full articles for analysis
  2. Add links to supplementary materials
  3. Create separate notebooks for different research topics

For Learning

  1. Add YouTube educational videos
  2. Generate PDFs from course materials
  3. Save reference articles and tutorials

For Content Creation

  1. Save inspiration and reference materials
  2. Organize by project using different notebooks
  3. Use PDFs for offline access

Working with YouTube Content

Educational Playlists (Pro)

👑 Pro Feature: YouTube playlist features require a Pro subscription. Upgrade Now → (opens in a new tab)

Course Collections

  1. Find Educational Playlists: Khan Academy, Crash Course, MIT OpenCourseWare
  2. Add to NotebookLM: Navigate to playlist → Click extension → Select "Add YouTube Playlist"
  3. Study Effectively: Ask NotebookLM to summarize videos, generate study questions

PDF Best Practices

Works Best With

  • Articles and blog posts
  • News stories
  • Research papers
  • Documentation pages
  • Tutorial content

May Have Issues

  • Heavy multimedia content
  • Interactive elements
  • Dynamically loaded content
  • Very long pages (>10,000 words)

Tips for Best Quality

  • Wait for page to fully load before generating
  • Use print-friendly versions when available
  • Disable reader modes that might interfere
  • Try different browser window sizes

Need Help?

Contact us at support@notebooklmquick.com for personalized workflow advice!

Next Steps

Pro FeaturesTroubleshooting