NotebookLM and Obsidian are the dynamic duo I did not know I wanted

Taking notes is one thing many people do all through the day. I do know I can not get by mine with out setting reminders or jotting down a number of issues to jog my reminiscence. It is like I am nonetheless in class and note-taking is my saving grace earlier than the subsequent check — besides as an alternative of finding out, I am simply attempting to not neglect one thing I have to do.

Whether or not I am in a gathering or researching a brand new subject for a narrative, I take notes as I am going. I strive to determine what is going on on with a brand new program or make sense of a subject that is getting traction currently, and I jot issues down alongside the way in which. My favourite app to make use of is Obsidian. It is nice for retaining tabs on all types of subjects, and a free, easy-to-use note-taking app that is grow to be well-liked with thousands and thousands of customers.

I am additionally a giant proponent of NotebookLM and figured why not attempt to use Google’s note taking app to assist me decipher a few of my notes in Obsidian. What I discovered was really fairly shocking. Not solely is my handwriting atrocious, however my notes might be actually exhausting to decipher. Fortunately, AI was capable of assist me spot some patterns.

Obsidian is simple to make use of and easy to combine

I used to be happy with convey it over

When you’re utilizing Obsidian, you may open completely different sorts of notes and use them for absolutely anything. On the finish of the day, you are the one typing in them, so it is fully as much as you ways you utilize them. I like to make use of Obsidian to maintain observe of my week. I often have a observe with reminders for every day, together with one for freelance subjects I wish to analysis for story concepts. I will even make a each day observe for random ideas or issues I have to look into.

Fortunately, there are a number of methods to combine the notes I maintain in my Obsidian vault. I can export them as PDFs and add them to NotebookLM. It is easy sufficient, however you do have to save lots of every observe individually. That may current a little bit of a problem, because you would possibly lose the connections between your notes — and the AI might not perceive how every thing matches collectively. So, utilizing Markdown hyperlinks is vital.

Markdown is the key ingredient for straightforward integration

You possibly can copy, paste, and get the hyperlinks

As a result of NotebookLM works with Markdown, I take advantage of Markdown hyperlinks in my Obsidian notes. I depend on these hyperlinks to attach my notes and assist me perceive which subjects are a part of the identical analysis thread. I do maintain them in folders in my vault, however reasonably than opening one observe after which one other simply to toggle between them, a Markdown hyperlink lets me bounce from one to the opposite.

Meaning I can copy and paste textual content from Obsidian into NotebookLM, and it understands how the notes are linked… all because of the Markdown hyperlinks. That is confirmed after I use one of many many options that NotebookLM presents to assist individuals research and do analysis. In fact, I additionally fill out my pocket book with different analysis hyperlinks exterior of Obsidian to color a fuller image of no matter subject I am diving into, particularly if I am beginning with notes I uploaded from Obsidian.

Thoughts Map helps me join my analysis additional

I uploaded an inventory of the notes I had opened at the moment and threw them into NotebookLM’s Thoughts Map. It mapped out all of my notes, exhibiting how they’re linked and greatest navigate by them. It even discovered elements of my analysis and notes that I hadn’t linked through Markdown hyperlinks and grouped them collectively. That may look like a small factor, however I accomplish that a lot analysis on completely different subjects that it may be robust to maintain observe of every thing.

Granted, I do not all the time put every thing into Obsidian. However I do ceaselessly hyperlink again to older notes from new ones. Utilizing Thoughts Map helps me make deeper connections to notes I could have missed linking. I additionally actually loved the newer NotebookLM device, Studies. I will add in a few of my scribblings (which can learn like they’re from a madman) and Studies can flip that right into a briefing doc to assist me higher perceive each my very own writing and the analysis hyperlinks I’ve added from across the internet. Since NotebookLM makes use of no matter I present as its supply materials, it might probably pull the solutions I would like straight from my analysis.

Generally, I simply use it to summarize and assist me manage

I can ask inquiries to remind me concerning the subject

I do lots in Obsidian to maintain observe of every thing happening in each my skilled and private life. Since I am at my laptop for a lot of the day, I converted from the iPhone’s Notes app to Obsidian as a result of it is a lot simpler to prepare and customise with completely different options. Now that NotebookLM has a cell app as effectively, it opens up much more flexibility in how I combine it with Obsidian.

I can return into Obsidian to revise or broaden what I’ve written and benefit from its wide selection of options. Protecting Obsidian tidy additionally improves how effectively NotebookLM can course of and use the content material — particularly as I make updates. As soon as I sync the 2, I can use NotebookLM like a chatbot, asking questions to look deeper into the analysis. The extra I take advantage of these two and combine them, the higher they’re going to be, which is one thing I am genuinely so enthusiastic about.