6.1 – NotebookLM Plus Overview + How To Upgrade Lesson

Lesson Overview

NotebookLM Plus is the paid upgrade for Google’s NotebookLM research tool, offering increased limits and access to advanced features that can support larger or more complex knowledge projects. This lesson clarifies exactly what’s included with NotebookLM Plus and the key differences compared to the standard version of NotebookLM, which has been used in earlier parts of the course.

With NotebookLM Plus, your notebooks can contain up to 300 sources—six times the cap of the free plan. You also receive five times more AI-generated audio overviews, as well as the ability to ask more questions during each session. This is especially useful for researchers, educators, or creators working with substantial reference material. Additionally, NotebookLM Plus brings advanced customization options for AI-generated responses, improved sharing functionality for easier collaboration, and analytics to help you monitor engagement and usage patterns.

NotebookLM Plus access can be included through specific Google subscriptions, and this lesson will also help you understand the current pathways for upgrading your account. These capabilities let you streamline your research and increase the impact of your work, especially for collaborative projects or in-depth study environments.

Who This Is For

This lesson is designed for anyone considering an upgrade to NotebookLM Plus, especially those who:

• Work with large sets of research documents or multiple sources
• Need advanced sharing and collaboration capabilities
• Rely on AI-generated summaries and overviews for productivity
• Want to customize how AI responses are delivered
• Use Google Workspace, Google Cloud, or Google One AI Premium in their workflow
• Value tracking and analytics in their documentation or content projects
  

Where This Fits in a Workflow

An upgrade to NotebookLM Plus typically becomes valuable as projects grow in complexity or size. For example, an academic researcher gathering hundreds of scholarly articles, or a content team coordinating information across various topics, will find the higher source limit and enhanced analytics especially helpful. Similarly, teams that need to share notebooks, track usage, or customize how insights are generated will benefit from the additional options available in NotebookLM Plus. Whether you’re scaling from solo research to group collaboration, or moving from basic to sophisticated AI-powered workflows, this lesson supports that transition by clarifying your upgrade path and feature set.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Previously, the free version of NotebookLM might have required multiple notebooks to stay within the 50-source limit. With NotebookLM Plus, you can consolidate information, allowing up to 300 sources in each notebook. This streamlines your workflow, making navigation and research far more efficient. Larger projects become manageable without splitting information across different notebooks, and new analytics features help you track progress more easily. For teams, better sharing options promote smoother collaboration, while custom response settings allow you to tailor AI-generated outputs to match your needs. Upgrading through Google One AI Premium, you also gain 2TB of storage and integrations across other Google products, which means less time spent managing files and more time focusing on your actual work.

Practice Exercise

Choose a research topic or ongoing documentation project you’re working on—such as compiling case studies, academic sources, or planning content.

1. List the total number of sources you would ideally organize in a single notebook.
2. Review your current access level by checking if you’re limited to 50 or already see an option for up to 300 sources per notebook.
3. Based on your workflow, answer: Would access to more sources, advanced sharing, and analytics change how you structure or collaborate on this project? Why or why not?

This exercise helps you evaluate if NotebookLM Plus will help you work more efficiently or if the free plan still meets your needs.

Course Context Recap

This lesson introduces NotebookLM Plus and how it extends the capabilities of the standard NotebookLM experience—covering core features, subscription paths, and the reasoning behind an upgrade. Previous lessons focused on foundational skills and using the core NotebookLM features. Up next, you’ll learn how to use the customization settings exclusive to NotebookLM Plus, making your AI’s responses even more relevant to your workflow. Continue with the course to get the most out of NotebookLM, whether using the free or upgraded version.