For everybody who has been following my latest deep dive into the Google vs. Microsoft ecosystem, I’ve been hitting a significant roadblock: OneNote.
Regardless of Google’s spectacular productiveness suite, I’ve argued that I merely can’t make the change as a result of nothing in Google Workspace replicates the free-form, infinite-canvas flexibility of Microsoft’s digital pocket book.
Whereas I admire the passion for Google’s newest AI powerhouse, after placing it by means of its paces, I’ve realized there’s a elementary misunderstanding of what this instrument truly is.
I paired NotebookLM with YouTube and realized quicker than I ever did with note-taking apps
This unlikely duo upgraded my studying routine
NotebookLM is a strong layer on prime of your notes
In my workflow, the precise library is a instrument like OneNote or Evernote. These are the locations the place I retailer messy assembly minutes, handwritten scribbles, and unpolished ideas.
They supply the structural DNA, just like the folders, tags, and infinite canvases that permit a ‘Second Mind’ to exist for years.
NotebookLM, however, is the knowledgeable librarian. It doesn’t wish to show you how to write notes; it needs that can assist you perceive the notes you’ve already written.
After I feed it my undertaking notes, it turns into a superb layer of synthesis. It surfaces connections I missed and solutions questions I didn’t know I had. However the second I attempt to deal with it as a note-taker, every little thing falls aside.
Total, NotebookLM isn’t designed to prepare your life; it’s designed that can assist you make sense of what you’ve already organized.
After I have to discover a particular theme throughout twenty PDFs or generate a abstract of a month’s value of analysis, NotebookLM is unbeatable.
NotebookLM lacks conventional note-taking options
When you attempt to deal with NotebookLM as a direct successor to OneNote or Evernote, you’ll hit a productiveness wall in a short time. The reason being easy: it’s lacking nearly each important function that defines a real note-taking app.
For starters, there isn’t a actual hierarchy. In OneNote, I depend on the Pocket book > Part > Web page construction to maintain my life categorized. As compared, there aren’t any sub-folders, nested pages, or tagging programs in NotebookLM.
When you’ve got tons of of notes, you may’t simply slap a to-do or pressing tag on one thing and discover it later. You might be basically compelled to depend on the AI to search out issues for you, which is a significant gamble when you’ll want to pull up a selected piece of knowledge immediately.
Then there’s the precise act of taking a observe. The net editor is bare-bones. If you’re used to wealthy formatting, highlighting, or utilizing drawing instruments with a stylus in your iPad or Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely, you’re out of luck.
NotebookLM’s written notes are principally plain-text sticky notes. You possibly can’t sketch a fast diagram and even create a posh desk simply.
The most important dealbreaker for me is the cellular expertise.
An enormous a part of my workflow is fast seize, like snapping a photograph of a receipt, recording a fast voice memo whereas strolling, or utilizing a house display screen widget to jot down an thought earlier than it disappears.
You must navigate an online interface, which is much too gradual for capturing ideas in actual time.
By forcing your self into this ecosystem, you aren’t simply altering apps; you’re including friction to each single step of your day. You’ll spend extra time managing the instrument’s limitations than truly doing all of your work.
In case your productiveness is determined by velocity and group, treating NotebookLM as a main note-taker is a assured option to decelerate.
These are the situations the place the normal note-taking strategy by OneNote, Evernote, and even Google Preserve wins by a large margin.
I began utilizing NotebookLM with Google Preserve and it has been a game-changer
My notes are higher with NotebookLM and Google Preserve
The best hybrid workflow
The actual magic occurs whenever you cease making an attempt to make one instrument do every little thing and begin taking part in to its particular person strengths. For me, the best workflow isn’t about selecting between OneNote and NotebookLM.
Whether or not I’m on my Mac, S24 Extremely, or Home windows desktop, my inbox is all the time OneNote. That is the place I dump uncooked information: internet clippings, assembly transcripts, screenshots of diamond designs, or fast voice memos.
After a undertaking reaches a sure level, I export that particular part as a PDF or a batch of textual content recordsdata. That is the one handbook a part of the method, however it’s an important one.
It forces me to determine what info is definitely value educating to the AI.
I add these paperwork and PDFs to NotebookLM, ask it focused questions, and obtain related solutions very quickly.
I can generate thoughts maps, audio overviews, and even video overviews primarily based on added information.
The NotebookLM entice
NotebookLM is a good analysis engine, however it’s not and was by no means meant to be a substitute for a standard note-taking powerhouse.
NotebookLM isn’t a substitute for OneNote and Evernote as a result of it isn’t making an attempt to be your digital submitting cupboard — it’s your digital guide.
If you’re nonetheless making an attempt emigrate your whole note-taking right into a instrument that lacks fundamental hierarchical group and sturdy formatting, you aren’t upgrading your workflow — you’re breaking it.