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Easy AI How-To

BeginnerGeminiLearning

Make a study guide from your own notes

A study guide is only as good as the notes it came from. Free Gemini Notebook can build one from files you add, and the citations are there so you can check them. The original chapter still counts more than the summary.

Time
About 15 minutes
Checked
Tool
Gemini Notebook

If a button name on the screen does not match this guide, follow the action. These products rename buttons often.

Steps

  1. Open Gemini Notebook

    Go to notebook.google and sign in. Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in 2026. If that address does not open, try notebooklm.google.com. Both should land in the same product. The free plan is enough.

  2. Create a notebook and add your sources

    Choose a new notebook. Upload a PDF, paste notes, or add a Google Doc. Google’s help page for the free plan lists up to 100 notebooks, up to 50 sources in one notebook, and a large per-source word limit (about 500,000 words, or 200 MB for a local file). A copy-protected PDF will not import. Use material you are allowed to upload.

  3. Wait until the sources finish

    Do not generate a guide while a file is still processing. If a source fails, it is often because the PDF is locked or the file is too large. Remove that one and continue with the rest.

  4. Generate a study guide from the side panel

    Look for the Studio or guide panel, the area that offers formats such as a study guide, flashcards, a quiz, or an audio overview. Choose Study guide. Labels have moved before. If you do not see those words, look for a button that creates a guide from your sources rather than a blank chat.

  5. Click the citations

    A line without a citation is the one to doubt. Open two or three citations and see if they really say what the guide claims. Then ask in the notebook chat:

    Prompt to paste

    Where in my sources does each section of the study guide come from?
If a statement is not in the sources, say it is not in the sources.
Do not add outside facts.

  6. Quiz yourself before you reread

    Generate flashcards or a quiz from the same panel and answer before you reveal them. Free accounts have daily limits. Google’s help page has listed about 50 chat queries a day and 3 audio overviews a day on the free plan. Those numbers can change. If you hit a limit, study from the guide you already made.

Tips

  • The notebook is supposed to stick to your sources. It can still misread them. Your notes and the original chapter win if they disagree.

  • An audio overview is a review you can listen to, not a replacement for the reading. The free plan only makes a few a day.

  • Do not upload another student’s graded work, or a paid textbook PDF you do not have the right to share.

  • Copy the study guide into a doc you control. Notebooks are not a backup plan if you lose access to the Google account.

Common questions

Is Gemini Notebook the same as the Gemini chat?

No. The Gemini chat answers from a prompt and can wander. Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) answers from the sources you added. Use the notebook when the point is to study your material.

Can I use class slides?

Yes, if you are allowed to. Export them as PDF and add that file as a source. Then generate the study guide.

It missed a topic that will be on the test.

The guide only knows the files you gave it. Add the missing handout as a source and generate the guide again.

Is the quiz good enough to skip the chapter?

No. Use the quiz to find what you cannot explain yet, then go back to that page in the source.

More guides

Occasional notes

Hear when a new guide is up

A short note when a guide is added. No account, and no emails until this form is connected to a real list.

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