Gemini adds notebooks to organize projects across chats, files and NotebookLM

What Google launched

On April 8, 2026, Gemini introduced notebooks as a new project layer inside the app. Google describes notebooks as a persistent base that connects the Gemini app with NotebookLM, giving users a dedicated space for work that should not disappear into a long chat history. The setup starts from a simple action: click “New notebook” in the side panel and begin grouping material around a project.

Google says users can move past chats into notebooks, give Gemini custom instructions and attach relevant files such as documents and PDFs. Once those handpicked sources are organized, Gemini uses them alongside its own tools and web search to generate more context-aware responses. Notebooks also sync across Gemini and NotebookLM, which means the same project materials can move between a general assistant workflow and a more source-grounded research workflow.

Why it matters

Notebooks address one of the main structural weaknesses in assistant products: important context is usually scattered across old chats, files and separate note systems. By turning that material into a named workspace, Google is pushing Gemini away from a purely session-based chatbot model and toward a project-oriented operating model. That is a better fit for work that unfolds over days or weeks rather than a single prompt.

Google says access is rolling out first on the web for Google AI Ultra, Pro and Plus subscribers, with broader access coming in the following weeks to mobile, more countries across Europe and free users. The company also says notebooks are not yet available for users under 18 or on Workspace and Education accounts. An inference from the launch is that Google wants Gemini and NotebookLM to function as a two-part workflow: Gemini for active execution and iteration, NotebookLM for deeper source-grounded exploration. If that pairing works well, Google gains a stronger answer to the market’s push toward assistants with durable context and cleaner project boundaries.

Sources: Gemini X post · Google product post