What is NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook)? Free use, Audio Overviews in Turkish, slide decks, pricing and mobile app

You put your sources into a notebook; it answers your questions based on them, and clicking a numbered quote in the answer opens its place in the source. Sources can be lecture notes, reports, contracts, meeting recordings or YouTube videos. Then you create outputs from the same sources to listen to, watch or study.

The product was renamed Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026; Google says it is the same standalone product. The old notebooklm.google.com address redirects to the new one. People still search for “NotebookLM”; this page covers both names.

Chat is no longer limited to your sources alone: with a feature Google calls “experimental,” you can have it search the web or generate charts and Excel, Word or PowerPoint files. The help page doesn't say which plans include it.

!Google's own help page says Gemini Notebook can make mistakes. Quotes make checking easier; they don't guarantee accuracy.

Who it's for: students, teachers, thesis writers, consultants and anyone who works with long reports and contracts.

• Files: PDF, Word, PowerPoint, text, Markdown, CSV, ePub and images. Each source up to 500,000 words or 200 MB (no page limit).
• Google Drive: Docs, Slides (up to 100 slides) and Sheets. When the original file changes, the source updates every few minutes; footnotes and comments aren't imported.
• Web pages: only the text is imported; paywalled pages aren't supported.
• YouTube: public videos with captions and speech; the transcript is imported, not the visuals.
• Audio recordings (such as MP3, WAV, M4A): transcribed; Turkish audio is supported.
• Copied text, Google Play Books e-books, Gemini chats and your own notes can also be sources.

If you have no sources, type a question and have it find sources on the web or in your Drive. Fast search is available to everyone; the detailed research that scans hundreds of sites and writes a report (Deep Research) is for accounts aged 18 and over.

!If a large or image-heavy PDF under 200 MB won't upload, check whether it's copy-protected. Reported by users Splitting the file into parts and adding them as separate sources has worked (the official page doesn't suggest this).

• Account: a personal Google account you manage yourself, or a work/school account (at work or school an admin must turn on access). The account needs age verification.
• Turkey: Turkey is on the country lists for the web and mobile apps; in countries not on the list, expect a “no access” error.
• Phone verification, ID or card: the help pages don't say any of these are required; that depends on the Google account's own requirements.

1. 1Create a new notebook and add your lecture notes or documents as sources.
2. 2Ask questions in the chat; hover over a number in the answer to see the quote, and click it to open its place in the source.
3. 3Create a study guide, flashcards, a quiz or a mind map from the Studio panel. You can send a report to Google Docs with “Export to Docs.”
4. 4If you save a chat answer to a note with “Save to note,” the note can also be used like a source.

You can change the chat's style: the learning-focused “Learning Guide” or a role you write yourself (“explain it like a high school teacher”), plus answer length. These settings aren't available on the phone.

If a source is very short, the tool may cite the whole document instead of individual quotes. Before using an important fact, click the quote and read the original sentence in the source.

!If you get an answer like “Gemini Notebook can't answer this question,” rephrase the question more clearly; it may not answer requests that aren't covered by your sources or that are creative (such as writing a story).

1. Add your sources and choose Slide Deck in the Studio panel.
2. Pick a format: a “detailed deck” meant to be read, or “presenter slides” to use while speaking; enter the language, length and your request.
3. Write your Revise notes all at once: each revision generates a new deck from scratch, counts against your usage allowance, and sources aren't taken into account during the revision.
4. Download a PDF or PowerPoint (.pptx) from the three-dot menu.

Slide decks and infographics are available to accounts aged 18 and over; since both are AI-generated, they may contain visual or factual errors. For a Video Overview, choose it in Studio; generation can take a while, and you can keep working on other things.

You share a notebook by email as a “viewer” or “editor” (up to 50 people with a personal Gmail account; it can't be shared with Google Groups). On a personal account you can also share a single Audio Overview or slide deck via a public link; on work and school (Workspace) accounts public sharing is turned off. A notebook that contains a Gemini chat can't be shared.

There's also a sharing view that hides the sources and shows only the chat, but it doesn't fully remove access. If you turn off public sharing, the link stops working.

All features are in the notebook on the web. The phone app is an “early version”: some features are missing (see “On your phone” below). In the Gemini app you can open your notebooks inside a chat.

In the Gemini app, type “@Gemini Notebook” to have Gemini open a notebook or add sources; changes sync both ways. The feature is rolling out to accounts gradually; it must be connected as a connected app in Gemini, and Keep Activity must be on. Shared notebooks aren't listed in the Gemini sidebar.

The same notebooks also appear in AI Mode in Google Search (except in the European Economic Area, English only); Studio outputs can't be created there. Google says AI Mode chats may be used for ads, personalization and model improvement; it says sources and instructions are not used.

Gemini guide →

There are Android (10 or later) and iPhone (iOS 17 or later) apps; download the app only from Google Play and the App Store. The app is an “early version.”

• Included: asking questions, downloading Audio Overviews to listen offline, flashcards and quizzes, creating slide decks and infographics, and sending a page, PDF or YouTube video open in your browser to a notebook with “Share.”
• Phone only: a natural spoken conversation with your notebook (18+).
• Not included: creating and editing notes, mind maps, reports, data tables and chat settings. From the phone you can only add PDFs, websites, YouTube, audio and copied text as sources.

!Files circulating as “NotebookLM pro apk” are not official.

Yes, you start free with a Google account; most outputs are on the free plan. But not unconditionally: slide decks, infographics, detailed research and cinematic video are available to accounts aged 18 and over; advanced sharing and watermark-free output are on paid plans. There's no separate “NotebookLM Pro” subscription; more sources and usage come with Google AI plans.

The official page doesn't say whether prices include tax. If you buy through the App Store, the store price can differ (the App Store lists a different price for Ultra). There's no setting that lets users pick a model; the plan row only describes the level of model access (Higher, Highest).

Official pricing page last checked on October 28, 2026.

Reported by users Turkish Audio Overviews are reported to vary in length from 5–7 minutes up to 25 minutes; adding a prompt like “go into detail, extend the discussion” has worked for some people and not for others. There is no length guarantee. Choosing host voices and downloading transcripts aren’t mentioned on the official page.

!An invisible mark (SynthID) and a visible watermark are added to images and videos. Slide decks and infographics are AI-generated, so they may contain errors.

The tool is free for everyone. In Turkey, university students aged 18 and over can apply by December 31, 2026 and get Google AI Plus free for 1 year; that means 100 sources per notebook and more usage (goo.gle/universiteli).

!When the free year ends, the plan automatically renews at the regular monthly AI Plus price. If you don't want that, cancel before the period ends.

If your school uses Google Workspace for Education, it can also be opened with your school account, but the school admin must have turned on access; students can't turn it on themselves. There's no special offer for teachers on personal accounts.

Each feature shows its cost and, where needed, its conditions. Having a free plan doesn't mean every feature is free and unlimited.