Between Gmail, Google Hold, and random chat threads, I believed I had a reasonably good deal with on my emails and conversations.
Nonetheless, after I fed this mess into NotebookLM, I spotted simply how a lot I used to be lacking.
It remembered context, grouped associated concepts, and even answered oddly particular questions similar to, “What are the primary initiatives I’ve been speaking about this month?”
Right here is how I arrange NotebookLM to make sense of my emails and texts, and why it modified the way in which I take into consideration managing info overload.
Gathering collectively all my sources
Step one was to gather knowledge from the 4 locations I take advantage of most: Gmail, Google Hold, WhatsApp, and Google Messages.
Emails
I began with emails, which have been surprisingly simple to wrangle.
I exported a batch of key threads from Gmail associated to challenge discussions, shopper updates, and private back-and-forth.
To reserve it as a PDF, open an e-mail, click on the printer icon on the high, and choose Save as PDF subsequent to Vacation spot.
Google Hold notes
Subsequent was Google Hold, which I exported by opening every notice I needed to incorporate and pasting it right into a single textual content file.
You can even use Google Takeout for this, however I discovered guide curation sooner after I solely wanted 10 or so notes.
Messages and chats
For Google Messages, I did not attempt to export the whole lot.
As an alternative, I opened a number of key conversations, copied the related elements (similar to ongoing plans or challenge follow-ups), and dropped them into Google Docs. I named it Messages abstract earlier than importing it as a supply.
Alternatively, you should utilize a third-party app similar to SMS Backup & Restore.
First, take a backup of your messages and reserve it in your cellphone. Go to View Backups and choose a dialog. Faucet the three-dot menu icon and choose Print dialog > Save as PDF.
I additionally included conversations from WhatsApp since I take advantage of it continuously. I exported a gaggle chat with my closest associates utilizing the app’s built-in Export chat possibility.
To export a WhatsApp dialog, open the chat, faucet the three-dot menu icon, faucet Extra, and choose Export chat.
Analyzing convoluted e-mail threads
Utilizing NotebookLM for fast recaps
I uploaded a PDF of a protracted thread from a challenge workforce that had carried on with out me whereas I used to be on vacation.
After I acquired again, the thread had dozens of replies and last-minute modifications buried deep in replies I hadn’t learn.
As an alternative of scrolling endlessly to catch up, I requested NotebookLM to summarize what the workforce members had determined whereas I used to be away and spotlight any pending duties or open questions.
Inside seconds, it produced a neatly structured abstract.
Making sense of my Google Hold notes
NotebookLM is ideal for evaluation
My Google Hold is a multitude of e book notes, grocery lists, to-do gadgets, and random ideas.
It is splendid for fast seize, however horrible after I really need to search out one thing. So I uploaded a handful of notes to NotebookLM to see what it might make of them.
I requested NotebookLM: What recurring themes do you see in these notes? It grouped comparable ideas, like concepts for simplifying my digital setup, recurring mentions of time blocking, and quotes I would saved from articles about productiveness.
Now, when my Hold notes begin piling up, I do not trouble organizing them manually. I copy them into NotebookLM and let it summarize the content material.
What my conversations revealed
When NotebookLM met my WhatsApp chats
For enjoyable, I exported a protracted WhatsApp group chat with my associates.
I needed to see how NotebookLM would interpret one thing casual and unstructured.
Initially, I inquired about fundamental matters similar to the primary themes of the chat and who texts probably the most. However then I went one step additional and gave it a extra playful immediate:
Primarily based on the WhatsApp group chat, describe our group dynamic as a actuality present narrator.
The response was hilarious and surprisingly correct.
NotebookLM described one good friend because the “resident voice of motive,” one other because the “wry humorist,” and me because the “popular culture translator.” It even recognized operating jokes and recurring plans we by no means adopted by means of on.
However not the whole lot was correct. Typically it over-interpreted jokes or misinterpret sarcasm.
Nonetheless, as a lighthearted experiment, it was some of the entertaining methods I’ve used NotebookLM but.
The place NotebookLM falls brief
It has a number of tough edges
Regardless of the intriguing insights it supplied, NotebookLM has some limitations.
NotebookLM excels at summarizing information and threads, but it surely typically overlooks nuance, similar to sarcasm in a gaggle chat or emotional tone in an e-mail thread.
After I requested it to explain my group chat dynamic like a actuality present narrator, it nailed the humor, however its summaries of great threads typically flattened the that means.
Whereas NotebookLM is designed for cross-referencing concepts, formatting knowledge and supply limitations could be irritating.
PDFs, plain textual content paperwork, and Google Docs are all acceptable codecs, however incorporating exports from apps like Messages requires further effort.
NotebookLM helped join the dots
After I first uploaded my emails and chats to NotebookLM, I hoped to obtain neat summaries.
As an alternative, it went additional and clearly outlined my communication patterns, which have been each fascinating and barely uncomfortable.
NotebookLM supplied insights that I might not have been in a position to compile by myself. It linked notes to previous emails, retrieving forgotten follow-ups and highlighting recurring themes.
Nonetheless, it was not flawless. Typically, it drew odd connections or misinterpret context in informal conversations.
Nonetheless, as a approach to reduce by means of the noise and see the larger image, it’s simply some of the helpful instruments I’ve tried in years.