I Almost Gave Up on Gemini Notebooks, But Then I Found This Feature

While I’ve long wanted to organize my Gemini chats and files into projects, when this feature arrived in the form of Gemini Notebook, I was initially disappointed.

However, after playing with this feature using both Gemini and NotebookLM, it is more useful than I expected.

When I envisioned a Projects feature in Gemini, I wanted it to be a useful place to organize files and chats into folders. This was based on my experience with the cloud, particularly its own projects feature, which makes it easy to organize files and chats under a specific folder.

But when Notebook came out on Gemini, I didn’t enjoy its NotebookLM integration. It felt like this was a way for Google to motivate users to use both products instead of refining each product separately.

The fact that your Gemini notebooks also automatically sync to NotebookLM may be a drawback, as there are not an unlimited number of notebooks available for your account.

After using the feature more for a few days, I came to appreciate its approach to organization — even if it wasn’t what I expected. However, when I realized what these notebooks could do for my NotebookLM research, I really began to value the integration of the two tools.

While using Gemini Notebook, I realized that my chat with the AI ​​was synced with NotebookLM as a source. This may seem unnecessary at first since NotebookLM also has chatbot features, but it unlocks a powerful tool that NotebookLM doesn’t really have – access to the web.

NotebookLM bases itself on your sources, meaning it can’t pull information from the wider web to add context to your responses. This is useful when it comes to preventing hallucinations, but can limit the AI ​​tool’s insight.

Once I realized that my chats with Gemini were being synced as NotebookLM sources, I figured out how to use these chats to add context. NotebookLM can pull links from the web that you can use as sources, but it’s a somewhat awkward process that doesn’t always turn up the best information.

It also requires that there is already a source available on the topic – this is more difficult to find when it comes to specific context. I’ve also found that if you don’t live in a western market it’s not always easy to find sources relevant to your local context.

But with my Gemini Chat, I can now add references to my notebook without needing to add a separate note or source. I can also troubleshoot issues with Gemini and apply the solutions to my NotebookLM projects.

Importantly, only chats from Gemini notebooks sync with NotebookLM. You can also choose which chats you want NotebookLM to use for feedback, or delete a specific chat entirely.

The first NotebookLM project where this feature was extremely helpful was my Garden Care notebook. In this I store information related to the care of plants in my garden.

Along with Gemini, I might add the context that I live in Cape Town, South Africa. I then asked the AI ​​how often I should water a specific plant in my garden during the summer. It can use this context, including the lack of rainfall in my area during the summer, to plan watering for the plant.

I also used it to find out why another plant’s leaves were turning yellow. While most sources mention possible root rot, I can add reference about the recent heat wave. The AI ​​concluded that heat stress was the more likely cause, based on my water drinking habits.

Back in NotebookLM, I can create a more accurate watering schedule based on my sources and my Gemini chat. This proved to be more in line with the real-world needs of my plants than the context-free suggestions from sources. I finally got a watering schedule for my grass, which no other source had been able to do before.

My next project is to create a NotebookLM hub for detecting chronic kidney disease in cats, as my cat recently moved from stage 1 to stage 2. Gemini’s ability to easily add context would be helpful, as I would be able to access information about my cat without needing to upload it separately.

While Gemini’s tendency to ask follow-up questions annoys me sometimes, it is also useful for seeing where I may have shortcomings in context.

Gemini notebooks are not the projects I envisioned, but maybe that’s a good thing. After all, they offer something different.

This feature is not without flaws, as Gemini still has a habit of making mistakes. For example, I spent about 10 minutes debating the identity of a plant based on several pictures.

However, overall, it provides organizational features while adding useful context to NotebookLM with little effort. However, like any AI tool, it is important to check the accuracy of its results.