While the big launch of Gemini 3.0Google’s most intelligent AI modelwas certainly the highlight of last weekthe company has also been hard at work improving one of its biggest hits: NotebookLM. In factthis week might have been one of the busiest yet for new NotebookLM features. Sohere’s a rundown of all the new NotebookLM features that rolled out over the past few days.
Slide Decks and Infographics come to NotebookLM
Simon Tokuminthe NotebookLM lead at Google Labrecently started putting out release notes covering everything the team has pushed out each week via X (formerly Twitter). Todayhe posted the newest set of release notes.
To start off strongGoogle added two new outputs you can generate in the Studio panel: Infographics and Slide Decks. Both features are powered by Google's latest Nano Banana Pro modelwhich Google also launched last week. With Slide Decksyou can turn any source(s) you upload to your notebook into a full-fledged presentation.
Infographicson the other handlet you create visual summaries of the sources you upload. As with most NotebookLM featuresyou have plenty of control over the final Slide Decks and Infographics that are generated.
All you need to do is click the pencil icon on the relevant tileand you'll see plenty of customization optionslike choosing the orientation and level of detail of the Infographicand the format and length of the Slide Deck. You can also add custom instructions to guide exactly how the content is generated.
More control with customizable Video Overviews
While we're talking about customizationanother notable update NotebookLM got this week is the ability to customize Video Overviews. Before thisNotebookLM lets you manually select one of the following visual s for your Video Overviews (or Auto-select): ClassicWhiteboardKawaiiAnimeWatercolorRetro printHeritageand Paper-craft.
Nowyou'll find a new Custom option where you can describe a visual in your own wordsand NotebookLM will generate a Video Overview that matches your description. This gives you far more creative control over how your notes are presented.
Thinking UX lets you watch NotebookLM’s thought process
Another exciting update is "Thinking UX," which essentially lets you see NotebookLM's thought process when answering your questions. Previouslyyou would only get the final answer. Nowyou'll see in real time how NotebookLM arrives at the answer.
For instanceI asked NotebookLM a question based on my lecture slidesand here are the steps it went through before delivering the final response: analyzing my filesreading through pages and full chapterschecking sourcesprocessing the materialand grounding the answer.
Longer custom personas and a new way to create notebooks quickly
You can now also create longer custom personas in NotebookLM. The custom personas feature essentially lets you shape NotebookLM's AI into exactly the assistant you need by describing how you'd like it to behave. Beforeyou were limited to just 500 characters for defining a persona's roleor goal. That limit has now gone up to 5,000which means you can provide much more detailed instructions.
Finallyyou’ll now also find a new + Create Notebook button when you’re inside any notebook. This is meant to make it easier to start a new one without having to jump back to the home screengiving you a quicker workflow overall. Sothis was quite the packed week for NotebookLM updates.