How do I access Notebooks from Gemini?
If you're in Gemini with the same account, you'll find a Notebooks section in the sidebar. Open the notebook to see its sources and start a Chat about them. Here, Gemini's own capabilities sit alongside your sources: the model's knowledge, the internet, and Gemini's tools.
Inside Gemini Notebook, answers and outputs are based on your sources by default. Inside Gemini, you can start with those sources and then go further.
If you have a complete course and want to turn it into a website, open the notebook inside Gemini and use Canvas to build a Website based on the course content, instead of starting with a generic prompt without Context.
Gemini Notebook or Gemini?
| If you need | Use |
|---|---|
| Ask about sources, review Citations, organize sources, or use Studio outputs | Gemini Notebook |
| Start with your sources and add research, an image, Canvas, a website, or an app | Gemini |
| Return from the project to managing sources and outputs | Open the same notebook in Gemini Notebook |
The question is what you want to do: stay within your sources, or use them as a starting point for something bigger?
Study Notebook starts at your level
In Gemini, create a new Notebook and select Study and Learn. Then choose whether you have sources ready, want to start from Gemini's knowledge, or want to gather sources through research. In the lecture, we tried a space on social intelligence, and it began suggesting lessons and a path through the topic.
The key option here is Personalize Your Learning. Instead of one course starting at the same point for everyone, Gemini assesses your level and identifies strengths and priorities. It's like a tutor asking questions before deciding where to begin.
You'll see priority lessons, but you can also view all lessons and choose a particular Topic if that's what matters now.
A lesson might start with why the idea matters, followed by explanation, examples, and comparisons, then a Quiz to check your understanding.
The Quiz shows your level
Create a Quiz with a set question count and Topic, or enter your own Topic. While answering, use Hint and see explanations. The Score appears at the end.
The bigger benefit is that the result feeds back into the notebook: it helps identify topics you've mastered and those that still need work.
Over time, you have Progress and a path instead of separate Chats every day. This helps if you're changing careers or learning a new Skill and want to know where you stand and what to do next.
Add more than one Notebook as context
In any regular Gemini Chat, Plus lets you add files, Drive, or a Notebook, or mention the notebook as you type. Add several if you have courses in the same field and want to compare them or bring their knowledge into one project.
The add button doesn't guarantee that every word in every Notebook actually entered the context. That's where understanding Tokens and model limits matters.
Input Limit differs from Output Limit
A Token is a unit the model uses to process text and content. Each model has a Context Limit defining how much content it can receive in a conversation. Numbers and limits change between versions, but the principle stays the same: several large Notebooks may exceed that limit, even if the interface lets you select them.
What a model can read differs from what it can write. Being able to receive a large book doesn't mean it can explain the entire book in one Reply.
For a large request, split the task into the first part, then the second, or ask for separate files. Select notebooks and sources relevant to the task instead of adding your entire archive.
Start with the least Context needed for the task. Add a source when it has a clear role, rather than just in case.
Help the notebook remember your approach
In Gemini's Notebook Settings, you'll find Memory. When it's on, new conversations in the space can use your previous work instead of starting from scratch each time. This helps with a learning journey or long project.
Instructions are the notebook's standing directions. Define its role: rely on course sources and explain in a particular way. Instead of repeating instructions in every Chat, set them once for the whole space.
Mention the notebook and work with it
If you've created a course, uploaded and organized lectures, PDFs, and references, you don't need to gather them again each time. Mention the notebook in any Gemini conversation and start from there:
- Extract data: A table of concepts, a comparison of sources, or a list of all numbers and dates.
- Build in Canvas: A website, game, or interactive tool whose content comes from your sources.
- Continue with Gemini's tools: Web research, an image, or a longer report.
If you repeat an approach on the same sources, such as a summary and questions for each lecture, save it as a Skill and reuse it instead of writing the instructions each time.
One notebook, many uses
- Gather and organize sources in Gemini Notebook.
- Ask questions and create Studio outputs while checking Citations.
- Open the same notebook inside Gemini when you need tools or broader research.
- Use Canvas to build a website, app, or experience based on your sources.
- Turn it into a personalized learning space that tracks your level.
- Mention it in any conversation and save your recurring approach as a skill.
Use an existing Notebook for a new task
- Open a Notebook you've already organized inside Gemini.
- Ask for a task that needs more than questions about the sources, such as a website outline or simple educational game.
- Specify in the prompt that the sources are the main reference for the content.
- Check whether Gemini added information from outside the sources and decide whether it suits the task.
- Write standing Instructions for the notebook if you'll use it regularly.
Now you know more than Gemini Notebook's buttons. You can gather knowledge, talk to it, turn it into different formats, and take it into a project, learning journey, or any new task.
