These 14 NotebookLM prompts are written for the one thing that sets it apart: it answers only from the sources you add, with citations. They cover chat across your sources, the Custom chat style, steering prompts for Audio and Video Overviews, custom reports, and flashcards and quizzes. Each one is a fill-in template you can paste as is.
NotebookLM has a new name. Google's announcement of July 16, 2026 says "We’re renaming NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook." It remains a separate research product, and notebooks now sync with the Gemini app. This page uses NotebookLM because that is still what most people search for. For research on the open web, see the Perplexity prompts, and for general Gemini chat, the Gemini prompts.
How to use these prompts
Copy a prompt, replace each blank in double braces, or keep the default after the colon. {{audience:a new team member}} means "a new team member" unless you change it.
A notebook has three panels: Sources, Chat and Studio. Per Google's help on creating a notebook, Studio is "where outputs based on your sources are generated," including Audio and Video Overviews, mind maps, reports, data tables, flashcards, quizzes, slide decks and infographics.
Three habits make these prompts work better:
- Choose your sources on purpose. You can select which sources the model should use for an answer. Untick the ones that don't matter to the question.
- Expect it to stay inside your sources. Google's chat help page says: "Chat responses in Gemini Notebook only use data from your sources." If your sources don't cover something, the right answer is "not covered", and the prompts below ask for exactly that.
- Save the good answers. "Save to note" keeps a chat response, with its tables and citations, on the noteboard so you can build on it.
Free users can add up to 50 sources per notebook, each up to 500,000 words or 200 MB for uploaded files, according to the sources help page. Sources can be PDFs, Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, web URLs, public YouTube videos with captions, audio files, images and more.
Which chat prompts work across all your sources?
These use the Chat panel. They make NotebookLM compare and connect sources, which is where it beats reading each document yourself.
1. Where do my sources agree and disagree?
Use it when you have added several reports, papers or interviews on one topic. It turns a pile of sources into a map.
Across all the selected sources, on the question of {{question}}:
1. Where do the sources agree? Cite each one.
2. Where do they disagree? Show the passages side by side.
3. Which source has the strongest evidence, and why?
4. What does each source assume that the others don't?
Only use the sources. If they don't address part of the question,
say "not covered" for that part.
2. What do my sources not cover?
Run it before you write anything based on a notebook. The gaps are often more useful than the summary.
I need to {{goal:write a recommendation on whether to adopt this vendor}}.
Based on the selected sources, list the questions I would need to
answer for that goal, then mark each one as: fully covered, partly
covered or not covered. For covered ones, cite the source. For the
gaps, say what kind of source would fill each one.
3. Build a timeline from scattered sources
For project histories, case files, research on an event or a long email export saved as a document.
Build a timeline of {{subject:the project}} from the selected sources.
One row per event: date (or "undated" with the nearest clue), what
happened, who was involved, and the citation. Order by date. After
the timeline, list any events where sources give conflicting dates or
details.
4. A glossary of every term my sources use
For onboarding into a new field, a big spec or an unfamiliar company. Useful to save as a note and keep beside the notebook.
Make a glossary of the specialist terms, acronyms and internal names
used in the selected sources.
For each term: the definition as the sources use it, a citation, and
a plain-language version for {{audience:a new team member}}. Flag terms
that different sources define differently. Sort alphabetically.
5. Check one source against the rest
Select all the sources, then name the one to test. Good for a draft, a vendor claim or a summary someone else wrote.
Treat "{{source_to_check}}" as the document under review and all the
other selected sources as the reference.
List every claim in the document under review and mark it as:
supported by the reference sources, contradicted by them, or not
addressed. Cite the passages for each. End with the three most
important corrections.
6. Extract a comparison table
Studio can generate Data Tables and export them to Sheets. This chat version is handy when you want to set the columns yourself first.
From the selected sources, build a table comparing {{items:the vendors}}.
Columns: {{columns:price, contract length, data location, support hours, notable limits}}.
Use only what the sources say. Write "not stated" in empty cells and
cite each filled cell. Below the table, note which source each item's
information mainly came from.
How do you set a custom chat style in NotebookLM?
Open Configure Chat in the chat panel. The chat help page lists three styles: Default for "general purpose research and brainstorming tasks," Learning Guide for educational content, and Custom, "Best for choosing a specific style," such as a persona or role. These two prompts go in the Custom box.
7. A skeptical reviewer
For notebooks of drafts, proposals or research you need to defend. Set it once in Configure Chat instead of repeating the instruction in every question.
Act as a skeptical reviewer for {{reviewer_context:a funding committee}}.
Answer only from the sources. For every answer, point out the weakest
evidence behind it and any claim that rests on a single source. Be
direct and brief. When I ask for a summary, end it with the two
questions a tough reviewer would ask next.
8. A coach who asks before telling
For studying from your own notes or course material. Learning Guide covers general study; this version is for a specific exam or level.
You are a study coach for {{exam:a first-year organic chemistry exam}}.
When I ask about a topic, first ask me one question to find out what
I already know. Then explain from the sources at the level of
{{level:a student who has done the lectures but not the reading}},
with one example. End each answer with a short practice question.
How do you steer an Audio Overview?
Per Google's Audio Overview help, you can pick a format (Deep Dive, The Brief, The Critique or The Debate), choose a length of Shorter, Default or Longer (Longer is English only), and enter a prompt "to focus on specific topics or adjust the expertise level." Audio Overviews come in 80+ languages, and you can see the prompt behind an existing one with View custom prompt.
9. Deep Dive focused on one question
The Deep Dive is two hosts discussing your sources. Without a prompt it covers everything; with one it covers what you need.
Focus only on {{focus:what the sources say about pricing changes and their effect on churn}}.
The listeners are {{listeners:a sales team with no finance background}}.
Skip background they already know. Explain every number in plain
terms, and end with the three points they should remember.
10. The Critique of your own draft
The Critique has two hosts evaluate material such as an essay or a design doc. Add your draft as a source and steer them toward what you want reviewed.
Critique the document "{{document_title}}" as {{critics:two experienced engineers reviewing a design doc}}.
Focus on {{focus:risks, missing alternatives and unclear decisions}}.
Be specific: refer to sections by name. Spend little time on what is
good. End with the single change that would improve it most.
11. The Debate on a real decision
The Debate is a formal back-and-forth between two hosts. It works well when your sources contain both sides of a question.
Debate this motion: "{{motion:We should move our infrastructure to a single cloud provider}}".
One host argues for, one against, using only evidence from the
sources. Each side must respond to the other's strongest point rather
than repeating its own. Close with what evidence would settle it.
How do you steer Video Overviews, reports and flashcards?
The other Studio outputs take prompts too. Each of these goes into the customize box for that output.
12. A Video Overview with a custom visual style
Per the Video Overview help, you can choose a format (Cinematic, Explainer or Short), a visual style including Custom with your own description, and a topic to focus on. Visual Style is for users 18 and over and does not apply to Cinematic or Short.
Topic: {{topic:how our onboarding flow works, step by step}}
Audience: {{audience:new support staff in their first week}}
Custom visual style: {{visual_style:clean flat diagrams in navy and orange on a white background, simple icons, no people}}
13. A custom report
Reports come as FAQ, study guide, briefing document, an AI-suggested type, or one you create. This prompt is for Create your own.
Write a {{report_type:decision brief}} for {{reader:the leadership team}} from the selected sources.
Sections: the question, the options, evidence for each option with
citations, risks, and a recommendation. Keep it under
{{length:two pages}}. Mark any recommendation that goes beyond what
the sources directly say.
14. Flashcards or a quiz with a set focus
Google's flashcards and quizzes help says you can set the difficulty (easy, medium or hard) and the number of cards or questions, and add a prompt with an outline, audience, style and focus.
Audience: {{audience:nursing students preparing for a pharmacology exam}}
Focus: {{focus:drug interactions and contraindications only}}
Style: questions that test application in a short patient scenario,
not recall of definitions. Include the reason for each correct answer.
Keep your NotebookLM prompts in one place
The prompts that earn a permanent place are usually the Custom chat styles and the steering prompts you reuse on every new notebook. Google also says your data "is not used to train Gemini Notebook unless you provide feedback," per its overview page, and Workspace accounts get stronger guarantees. For working with research sources outside a notebook, see the AI prompts for research, and for classroom material, the teacher prompts.
To keep these prompts one shortcut away, save them in Kipt. Your prompts live as Markdown in a private GitHub repo you own, blanks like {{audience}} stay fillable, and Cmd+K finds any prompt by name or tag. Kipt is not affiliated with Google.