Gemini adds ‘notebooks’ for projects

Google just moved one of its most useful artificial intelligence tools out of its own corner and into the main Gemini app. The new feature is called notebooks, and Google says it syncs across Gemini and NotebookLM instead of making you choose one app or the other. (blog.google) NotebookLM is Google’s research tool for working from your own material instead of the open web. Google’s help pages say a notebook can hold sources like Portable Document Format files, websites, YouTube videos, audio files, Google Docs, and Google Slides. (support.google.com) That matters because Gemini chats usually feel like loose conversations, while NotebookLM has always been built more like a project folder. Google’s new setup puts that folder inside Gemini, so a trip plan, legal brief, class syllabus, or product launch can keep its files and its chat in one place. (blog.google) Google says changes now travel both ways between the two apps. If you rename a notebook, add a source, or change custom instructions in Gemini or NotebookLM, the update syncs to the other side. (support.google.com) Google also says Gemini chats can be added as shared context for a notebook if you opt in. That means the back-and-forth you do in Gemini can become part of the notebook’s knowledge base over time instead of disappearing into an old chat list. (support.google.com) The split between the two apps is now clearer. Google says Gemini is where you can use content-creation tools like making documents, web apps, images, and videos, while NotebookLM stays focused on grounded research from the sources you gave it. (blog.google) NotebookLM has been expanding fast before this handoff into Gemini. In late 2025, Google added support for Google Sheets, Drive links, images, Portable Document Format files from Drive, and Microsoft Word.docx files, which made notebooks useful for more than just plain text reading. (blog.google) Google has also been piling on output formats inside NotebookLM itself. Its help center now lists features like mind maps, audio overviews, video overviews, flashcards, quizzes, infographics, and slide decks, which turns a pile of source documents into something closer to a study and planning machine. (support.google.com) The immediate catch is access. Google says notebooks in Gemini are rolling out on the web first for Google Artificial Intelligence Ultra, Pro, and Plus subscribers this week, with broader availability still “coming soon.” (blog.google) So the real change is not a new upload button. Google is turning Gemini from a chat box into a workspace that remembers a project, and it is using NotebookLM’s source-grounded system as the memory layer underneath it. (blog.google)