In meetings or lectures, it often feels like you’re trying to solve a cryptic riddle, especially when you can’t capture every important detail.
While note-taking is essential, traditional methods often fall short. That’s where AI-powered tools like Notebook LM come in as your agile notetaker.
Notebook LM has quickly gained popularity due to its intuitive interface and smart algorithms, making it a powerful productivity tool. However, as with any new technology, it can take some time to get the hang of using it effectively.
In this blog, we’ll guide you through how to use Notebook LM for work, highlight its benefits, explore best practices, and discuss potential limitations. We’ll also introduce other useful alternatives to optimize your note-taking experience.
Summarize this article for me please⏰ 60-Second Summary
Want to simplify your workflows and make sense of complex information effortlessly? Here’s a quick breakdown of Notebook LM:
- Notebook LM: AI-powered tool for note creation, organizing information, and automated summaries
- Key features: Generates summaries, insights, and audio podcasts from notes for on-the-go consumption
- Use cases: Ideal for managing meeting notes, workflows, research, and task prioritization
- Advantages: Saves time by distilling complex info into concise takeaways
- Drawbacks: Limited tool integrations, basic collaboration features, and not suited for image-heavy or high-volume content
- Alternatives: ClickUp (task management), OneNote (Microsoft integration), and Evernote (digital archiving)
How to Use Notebook LM for Work: A Practical Guide with Examples
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Is Notebook LM?
Notebook LM, designed by Google Labs, is an experimental knowledge management tool for seamless note-taking.
It aims to enhance productivity by supporting active listening, organizing thoughts, and fostering brainstorming. Notebook LM is also known for its ability to create deep-dive audio conversations from basic documentation and transcripts.
With the primary purpose of becoming your intelligent assistant, it transforms unstructured information into actionable insights. In short, Notebook LM is designed to bridge the gap between capturing information and deriving value.
Key Notebook LM features
It’s important to remember that this experimental tool models its note-taking around AI. This allows users to get a fresh toolkit designed for smarter note management.
Here are four features that Notebook LM offers to help capture, organize, and utilize information:
Feature #1 Note creation and curation
When it comes to note taking, this tool keeps it simple and intuitive.
For personalized input, the “Add note” feature allows direct writing or pasting, offering flexibility in note creation. Notebook LM also lets you pin important responses, making them uneditable, preserved, and accessible.
It features a notebook guide that lets you combine one or more notes. A great example of this is how it creates one-click study guides from uploaded resources.
Feature #2 Summaries and analysis
Once you upload documents, Notebook LM’s AI algorithms instantly turn them into crisp summaries. It also analyzes content to create concise insights, identify patterns, and organize key points.
This helps users extract value quickly and focus on decisions instead of drowning in information. These features make Notebook LM ideal for reports, project briefs, lectures, and case studies.
Feature #3 Podcast generation
A standout feature that gained Notebook LM traction is its Audio Overview. This feature allows you to transform content and notes into custom podcasts.
This feature delivers an alternative way to absorb information. With clear and digestible audio, Notebook LM simplifies auditory learning and optimizes time during commutes or workouts.
Feature #4 Clear citations
The tool also packs its responses with clear citations to elevate transparency and accuracy in AI-generated content. Every output links back to its source, driving credibility and reliability.
This makes Notebook LM indispensable for research or professional work. Teams can easily validate information, justify their decisions, and drive accountability.
Notebook LM pricing
- Free forever
- Plus: $20/month per user (available only as an add-on for teams with premium Google Space and Gemini plans)
💡Bonus Tip: When using AI tools for note-taking, keep the following points in mind:
- Ensure your input is clear and concise for accurate results ✍️
- Regularly review and refine notes for clarity and relevance 🔍
- Leverage AI to summarize key points, but add personal context where needed 🧠
- Stay organized by using tags and categories for easy retrieval 📂
Summarize this article for me pleaseKey Applications of Notebook LM in Work Settings
Wondering how to use Notebook LM for work? Follow these steps to get started:
- Log in to Notebook LM. Here, you’ll find an option to create your notebook. Select “Create”
- Next, you’ll be prompted to add your source. This includes multiple documents in any of the six formats, from audio files and PDFs to links and plain text
Now, let’s dive into applying the tool in specific key applications:
Meeting and notes organization
Whether it’s recurring or one-time, all meetings need structured notes for clear direction and progress. Organizing them efficiently is crucial, as agendas and documents are often involved.
Notebook LM simplifies this by turning scattered details into actionable insights for quick access, smarter decisions, and seamless follow-through.
This is how Notebook LM facilitates clear, organized meetings and notes:
- Store all your meeting agendas, discussion points, or project briefs as a source
- Add manual notes during meetings, connect related points with links, and polish content with built-in formatting
- Transform disorganized meeting notes into summaries, FAQs, study guides, and briefing docs
- Store up to 1000 related meeting notes in a notebook. This helps organize and structure content around a single topic. Plus, revisit discussions easily with chronologically sorted notes
Streamlining project workflows
Projects are about content and execution in equal measure. Maintaining momentum and progress requires clear communication, action plans, and minimal waste. That’s the true purpose of a seamless workflow.
NotebookLM helps you understand projects better and even create quick action plans. It also reduces project complexity, delays, and miscommunication.
Here are a few ideas and ways to use the tool for better project workflows:
- Create timelines and action items so everyone knows the next steps
- Highlight possible interdependent tasks and milestones for smoother transitions between phases
- Tailor reports to suit specific stakeholder needs and reduce irrelevant communication
- Create templates as written notes for quicker problem resolution, project approvals, and routine reviews
Research and report analysis
In meetings and project coordination, staying ahead means staying informed. Creating reports for management decisions demands thorough data analysis. The cost of such in-depth insights is often extensive research and resources.
NotebookLM’s smart algorithms take the hassle out of research, simplifying complexities while maintaining top-notch quality.
Here’s how:
- Identify recurring themes or trends from the research data and sources you’ve added
- Back your insights with accurate citations and source links for clear logic and easy comprehension
- Generate structured tables summarizing complex information, delivering clarity and accessibility for decision makers
- Distill essential points from lengthy research papers, meeting transcripts, or documents
- Derive recommendations or actionable takeaways to keep reports insightful and solution-focused
🔎Did you know? Only 2.5% of people can multitask effectively! For the majority, juggling multiple tasks at once reduces efficiency and effectiveness, making focused prioritization a smarter strategy.
Task prioritization and planning
Giving life to insights involves creating clear action points. These can range from what to do today to steering your team towards key deliverables. How? Create effective tasks, strategies, and plans.
Notebook LM is designed to jot down thoughts and insights. That said, its conversational AI has the potential to convert that into plans and priorities.
Here’s how the tool helps:
- Suggest optimal task sequences to keep your team’s efforts efficient and productive
- Create a matrix to prioritize which tasks to delegate, defer, and address
- Plan weekly and daily task lists based on the latest meeting notes and source updates
- Form product roadmaps and sprints according to the client briefs, leave plans, and team capacities you’ve added
Team collaboration
Collective input is the foundation of any team and project. Aligning everyone’s thoughts and needs makes progress smoother and more engaging. In this sense, collaboration extends beyond brainstorming to include delegation and real-time contributions.
By enabling access and notebook sharing, NotebookLM does a well-rounded job of driving teamwork.
Follow these steps and ideas to maximize this tool’s potential:
- Share a notebook for real-time collaborative editing and brainstorming with all stakeholders
- Split the notebook into areas of responsibility for structured contributions
- Use notebook LM as a review board for conflict resolution and escalations meetings. This also facilitates better coordination for team managers
💡Pro Tip: Wondering how to use AI to automate tasks?
Follow these strategies:
- Identify repetitive tasks that can be streamlined with AI 🤖
- Set up AI workflows to handle routine processes automatically 🔄
- Continuously monitor and optimize AI systems for improved performance 📊
- Leverage AI to prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance ⏰
Summarize this article for me pleaseBest Practices for Using Notebook LM at Work
The use cases dramatically improve the impact of Notebook LM at Work. That said, just a few steps make it an even better AI-powered research tool.
Here are five particularly essential practices to incorporate:
Regularly update sources
Keep uploading documents and resources to your notebook’s source list. Relevant content helps Notebook LM act as an effective note-taking tool and comprehensive knowledge base. You can also update Notebook LM’s resources with the “Convert all notes to source” option.
Practice segmenting your notebooks
Dedicate each notebook to a single project, topic, or client. Clear segments in the note-taking hierarchy keep it easy to access. It also focuses your insights and facilitates quick data retrieval.
Keep your prompts detailed
If you need accurate information, your questions need to be specific. Make sure your prompts are highly detailed. When dealing with large datasets, this practice will deliver the most actionable insights.
Address repetitive tasks first
While Notebook LM has multiple applications, prioritize streamlining routine tasks. Automating quick reports and minutes with this tool lets you focus on high-value, strategic decision-making.
Set up written note templates
Incorporate ready-to-use templates for regular topics like escalation flash cards or project registration. This will speed up note-taking for team members and simplify review for managers. Ask Notebook LM for a template, pin it, and let the team copy it into their notes.
Summarize this article for me pleasePros of Using Notebook LM at Work
Here are five advantages of using Notebook LM at work:
- Centralized organization: Consolidates all your notes in one place, making them easy to find and manage. It eliminates the possibility of scattered documents across multiple platforms
- AI-assisted insights and reports: Converts lengthy notes into concise, actionable summaries and reports. It saves time and simplifies your understanding of complex topics
- Simplifies audio overviews: Creates podcast and script generation on an intuitive interface. It organizes ideas and makes audio creation accessible even to users with minimal technical expertise
- Reduces research time: Refers only to sources you’ve added, staying true to the information it has been fed. It also automatically delivers citations within responses, reducing research efforts while maintaining credibility and reliability
Summarize this article for me pleaseCommon Pain Points in Using Notebook LM
While Notebook LM offers many benefits, there are a few challenges to consider:
- Basic conversational AI: Insights rely solely on manually added sources. This results in incomplete information if not managed effectively
- Analytics limited to queries made: Premium features offer analytics related to daily user access and query counts over a week. This is not that valuable to business or project performance tracking
- Lacks integrations: Lacks collaboration tools and external integrations. Notebook LM is not currently suited for robust team-based or cross-platform workflows
- Limited source formats: Supports only text, PDFs, web page links, and Google Drive uploads like Google Slides and Docs. Plus, it processes only text-based information, not image-heavy content
- Restrictions on responses: Allows just 50 chat queries and three audio generations per day in the Basic plan. While NotebookLM Plus offers 500 queries and 20 audio generations daily, it isn’t great for high-volume needs
Summarize this article for me pleaseAlternative AI Tools for Work Instead of Notebook LM
While Notebook LM offers a range of applications, it may fall short in terms of features, integrations, and flexibility required for seamless productivity in a work environment. Given these limitations, it’s only natural to consider alternative AI writing tools.
ClickUp, the everything app for work, effectively combines note-taking, task management, and AI capabilities into one powerful platform.
ClickUp’s AI Notetaker transforms the way teams handle meetings by providing a comprehensive, automated solution for capturing and managing meeting content. It integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, ensuring that your meetings are well-documented without manual effort.
The AI Notetaker joins your meetings as an attendee, records the discussions, and provides a full audio recording along with a transcript. It also generates concise summaries, highlighting key points and decisions made during the meeting.
The Notetaker dentifies and lists actionable tasks discussed, ensuring clarity on responsibilities and deadlines. These action items can be automatically converted into ClickUp Tasks, streamlining your workflow.
Curious to see how ClickUp and Notebook LM compare? Here’s a quick breakdown:
| Feature | NotebookLM | ClickUp |
|---|---|---|
| AI Integration | ❌ Basic conversational AI reliant on added sources | ✅ Summarizes notes Generates fresh content Creates tasks and action items Directly integrates into 30+ ClickUp tools Powers advanced automation and workflows |
| Collaboration | ❌Lacks collaboration tools Offers limited sharing options | ✅Real-time collaboration Features task sharing Supports commenting and instant tagging Customizable permissioning and export options |
| Source Formats | ❌Limited to Google Docs, PDFs, and copy-paste | ✅Allows you to embed and import images, videos, spreadsheets, documents, tasks, meeting links, Features integrations with 1000+ apps |
| Analytics | ❌Basic usage stats on queries | ✅Detailed analytics on project timelines, productivity tracking, and performance insights Includes a dedicated dashboard tool Offers custom views such as Gannt Charts, Kanban boards, and Workload views |
| Customization | ❌No pre-designed templates or custom fields | ✅Thousands of ready-to-use templates Offers diverse custom fields for specific business needs |
As a comprehensive document collaboration software, ClickUp offers user-friendly solutions that go far beyond just note taking.
ClickUp Notepad is designed for quick, hassle-free note-taking. It’s integrated into each workspace to let you instantly jot down ideas or meeting notes. Notepad also enables you to create a checklist for to-dos and convert anything into a task.
Its simple interface and formatting make it a powerful addition to your productivity toolkit. It’s also great for accessing your notes from a browser or mobile device.
Looking for detailed, structured documents? ClickUp Docs is a one-stop solution. In addition to detailed formatting, the tool lets you embed images, links, tasks, and calendar events.
Its live editing features make it easy for team members to join and contribute. Each document also has multiple subpages if everyone needs a separate space. One document covers everything from routine reviews and research project updates to structured roadmaps.
ClickUp Brain is what you need to cut down manual effort, maximize insights, and generate productive notes. The tool summarizes project updates and delivers stand-up summaries, tool. Plus, it derives potential improvements, suggestions, and insights.
It also detects and creates tasks from meetings. Each response is packed with source links, making retrieving document sources and links easy. It offers advanced AI automation, such as logic-driven task status changes and documentation. This way, it reduces manual intervention, improves task management efficiency, and helps teams stay aligned with minimal effort.
➡️Also Read: How to Use AI in the Workplace to Boost Productivity
Sometimes, when you’re short on time or resources to create a document for your meeting, ClickUp has you covered with ready-to-use note-taking templates.
When it comes to note-taking, ClickUp’s Meeting Notes Template strikes the perfect balance between simplicity and detail. It features pre-designed sections for meeting expectations, participants, agenda, and action items, along with a dedicated guidelines page to promote professional etiquette.
Additionally, you can add multiple subpages for each day, making it ideal for team discussions, project check-ins, and one-on-ones. All you need to do is start typing, and the template does the rest.
💡Bonus Tip: Looking to maximize the potential of your research plan templates?
Here are some strategies to follow:
- Customize templates to fit your specific research goals 📊
- Break down complex tasks into manageable sections 📝
- Use consistent formatting for easy reference 📅
- Collaborate with team members for diverse insights 🤝
- Regularly update templates as your project evolves 🔄
ClickUp pricing
- Free forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Add to any paid plan for $7 per member per month
Here are some more alternatives you can explore to optimize your note-taking strategies:
- OneNote: This note-taking tool integrates with Microsoft’s ecosystem. It has rich formatting tools, cross-device syncing, and intuitive organization. Overall, it is ideal for personal and professional notes. That said, its interface can sometimes feel cluttered, causing new users to struggle with navigation
- Evernote: Excelling with large volumes of notes, Evernote comes with a few pretty powerful features. It features advanced search, robust tagging, and seamless syncing. In short, it’s a premier tool for comprehensive digital archiving. One aspect to be mindful of is its pricing model and complex interface
- Apple Notes: This option is known for its seamless integration across iOS and macOS devices. It has a straightforward interface, rich media support, and strong security features. That said, it is specific to the Apple ecosystem and lacks cross-platform functionality
- Notion: Known for its customizable workspaces and rich text editing, Notion is a robust note-taking choice. It also features databases, kanban boards, and collaboration for personal notes, project management, or knowledge bases. On account of its complexity, it has a longer learning curve and occasional performance issues
- Google Keep: Like Notebook LM, this is another Google product. Keep offers quick note-taking, color coding, voice memos, and image recognition. It’s great for capturing ideas across devices. However, its limited formatting and organizational capabilities may frustrate users with more complex needs
➡️Also Read: How to Use Notebook LM to Manage Your Research
Summarize this article for me pleaseElevate Your Note-Taking Processes at Work with ClickUp
Effective meeting insights can lead to new clients, and clear, impactful notes can streamline task completion. The right tool is essential for boosting workplace productivity, collaboration, and decision-making. 🤝
While Notebook LM offers a solid start. However, considering its limitations, you might ask: Is it the right tool for you?
For a true productivity boost, Notebook LM’s basic features may not be enough. The ideal solution should support everything from note-taking to project execution. Enter ClickUp—a comprehensive platform that offers robust analytics, quick note-taking, and stunning visualizations, all enhanced by AI.
With ClickUp, all you need to do is start typing to make the most of its powerful capabilities.
Ready to elevate your note-taking and project delivery? Sign up for ClickUp today! 🚀
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
