Create a notebook and add sources - Notebook LM Tutorial

- The first thing you see when you sign into Notebook LM for the first time is a prompt to create a new notebook. You can create multiple notebooks, each full of different sources and notes. When you create a notebook, it prompts you to add sources. Now, if you close this panel, you can get back to it by going to the sidebar on the left and click the plus button to add sources. This is the core of what Notebook LM does. You provide information sources, then the Gemini artificial intelligence can help you learn from those sources and organize information using detailed notes. Now, I'm doing some research on a company called Kinetico. This is a company that specializes in renewable energy products. For this example, I'm considering applying for a job with this company. I have several PDF files, including some of their product brochures, a case study, and even the job listing for the job that I'm thinking of applying to. And I'll also point out that this is a fake company, and this will be important later in the workshop. It's a fake company and the source files I'm using were made just as samples for training courses like this. Back in Notebook LM, I see the different types of files I can use. Notebook LM only uses text-based information, so it cannot get information from pictures. If you use a PDF file, it will ignore any pictures in the PDF and only use the text. It will take MP3 audio files, but it will generate a text transcript of those audio files after you upload them. You can use a Google Doc or Google Slides file, or you can add a link to a website, or a YouTube video. A YouTube video will only work if that video has a transcription included, but most YouTube videos do have that. And I'll point out that it cannot use Microsoft Word documents, but in Microsoft Word, you can save a document as a PDF, or you could upload a Microsoft Word document to your Google Drive and convert it to a Google Doc file there. So let's start with those PDF files. I could drag those here, or I could click the choose file button, navigate to that folder and select those PDF files, and click open. I see those files are added to the sources list on the left. I'll click the plus button again to add more source files. At the bottom of this panel, it tells me that I have added four sources and I can add as many as 50. Being able to add 50 separate sources of information lets you build an incredible baseline of information for the AI to use. But for now, I'll just add one more source file. I'll use the option to add a Google document, and since I'm using my Google account for Notebook LM, it takes me to the Google Drive for that same account. I'll navigate to the document that I want, select it, and click insert, and now that has been added to the left. You can select any of the sources from this list and that will show the text of that source, but it also shows a summary of that text at the top. So immediately we're seeing one big benefit. You can get instant AI generated summaries of any of your sources. Just be aware AI generated content can be inaccurate. And at the end of this workshop, I'll show you how to look out for inaccuracies and fact check these summaries. For now, I'll click the X to close this source file. When you point at any item in the source list, a button with three dots appears. You can click this and you get a menu where you can delete any of those source files if you don't want them. And this is important because all of these sources are static. So if you make any changes to a document and you want Notebook LM to use the new version, you would have to remove that source, then add the new version. The one exception to that is for Google Files. I'll select this document that I added from Google Docs, and there's a button at the top that says, "Click to sync with Google Drive." So if you do make any changes to a Google file, you should come here and click this button to synchronize. If you don't sync, it will continue to refer to the version from the last time it synchronized. And I'll close this. So I've started a notebook. I should give it a name. Click where it says Untitled Notebook at the top, and change that. I'm using this notebook to research a job I might apply to, so I'll name this Kinetico Job. As we go through this workshop, we will make lots of notes in this notebook using information from these sources. But you can and should have multiple notebooks. At the top of the sources list, you can click where it says Notebook LM, and that resets to the main page. I see my notebook here. I could click on it to open it or open the menu and delete it. But let's make one more notebook. I'll click Create New. I like to use Notebook LM to organize information for gadgets and appliances. I have a few smart home products and I went to the website and downloaded all of the user manuals and set-up guides for those devices. So I have the manual for the Nest thermostat and the Nest smoke alarm. I have them here as PDF files. I can just select them here, then drag them to that source upload panel. And now I have a second notebook where I can organize all of my notes for my smart home devices. I'll name this notebook, Nest Smart Home. And one more time, I'll click where it says Notebook LM at the top. From this main page, I can manage or open any of my separate notebooks.