🏆 7 Advanced NotebookLM Tricks For Pro-Level Slide Decks

I. Introduction

I bet most people are using NotebookLM’s slide deck feature completely wrong. They dump some sources into a notebook, click "Generate" and... that’s it. They get a generic presentation that technically works but doesn't blow anyone away.

NotebookLM is one of the most powerful free AI tools available if you know how to talk to it. There is a little pencil icon next to the "Generate" button that most people never click.

That icon opens the custom instructions menu, which transforms generic slides into genuinely impressive assets.

In this guide, I’m showing you 7 creative use cases that most people never consider. And yes, you can do all of that for free, without a complicated setup.

II. What Is NotebookLM, Exactly?

If you're new to NotebookLM, here’s the simple explanation before we get practical.

So, NotebookLM is a free AI tool built by Google. You can think of it as a research assistant that actually reads your documents.

Here's how it works:

• You upload sources (PDFs, Google Docs, YouTube videos, images, websites, audio files) and NotebookLM becomes an expert on all of it.

• You can chat with it, ask questions, summarize content or generate different types of outputs.

One of the best tools is the Slide Generator that lives on the right side of the interface and while clicking "Generate" works fine, the real power comes from that custom instructions panel, the one most people scroll past without a second thought.

Before generating your next deck, use this Quick Prompt Formula to dramatically improve your NotebookLM slide quality.

III. Use Case 1: Turn Handwritten Notes Into a Real Presentation

You know the frustrating moment when your page is full of ideas, arrows, circles, highlights and half-formed structures.

Everything makes sense in the moment and then comes the hard part: turning that messy page into an actual presentation.

While retyping everything feels awful, starting from scratch feels worse. NotebookLM handles this in a surprisingly smooth way.

How to Do It

The process is simple with these steps:

• Step 1: You take a clear photo of your handwritten notes with your phone.

• Step 2: Upload your image directly into NotebookLM as a source. The tool reads handwriting well, more accurately than most people expect.

• Step 3: Open the slide deck generator and click the pencil icon.

• Step 4: Give it style instructions. For example:

Turn my handwritten notes into a beautiful and engaging slide deck.
Style: Modern, colorful, bold visuals, clean typography.

• Step 5: Hit Generate.

What you get is structured, polished output built directly from your original notes. NotebookLM follows the outline you created on paper and transforms it into a clean presentation.

It can even put a picture of your original notes on the first slide to show your creative process.

This is a genuinely underused workflow for people who think visually or brainstorm on paper. It’s time to photograph, upload and let the system handle the formatting and structure.

IV. Use Case 2: Turn Research Into a Visual Storybook

We all have the same problem when reading, right? Anyone who has tried to sit down with a 40-page research paper knows the feeling: eyes glazing over by page 3, information going in one ear and out the other.

The information may be important but it’s rarely structured in a way that makes it easy to absorb. Long paragraphs, technical language and endless citations slow everything down.

But stories work differently. A clear sequence of events, characters and cause-and-effect makes complex ideas easier to understand and remember.

How to Do It

• Step 1: Upload your research sources (articles, PDFs, YouTube videos or whatever you've gathered).

• Step 2: Open the slide deck generator and click the pencil icon.

• Step 3: Give it storytelling instructions. For example:

Create a storybook that outlines the history of Bitcoin. 
Style: Modern Japanese manga with vibrant illustrations and narrative flow.

So, instead of bullet-point summaries and dry timelines, you’ll get an illustrated visual story that unfolds slide by slide. The information is the same but now it feels like something you'd actually want to read.

This works especially well for:

• Teaching complex topics to kids.

• Helping visual learners study.

• Making heavy subjects feel lighter.

There's research behind this, too: people remember information much better when it is told as a story instead of just a list of facts. Story is a delivery mechanism and it's a powerful one.

V. Use Case 3: Transform a Boring Text Deck Into a Branded Presentation

I think many teams have slides that are technically fine but visually painful to look at. It could be walls of text, default fonts, no visual structure or just simply bad.

Even if it works, nobody's impressed.

The problem is worse when you're in a business where every presentation is supposed to look consistent (same colors, same fonts, same vibe) and manually redesigning every deck becomes a huge time sink.

NotebookLM offers a clean workaround.

How to Do It

• Step 1: Build your content-only presentation in Google Slides or PowerPoint. Don't worry about design at all, just get the words right.

• Step 2: Export it as a PDF.

• Step 3: Upload that PDF to NotebookLM.

• Step 4 (Optional but powerful): Upload a brand guide document alongside it. This could be a simple PDF or Google Doc containing your brand colors (with hex codes), typography rules, logo usage guidelines and general visual preferences.

• Step 5: Give the generator instructions like:

Polish the slide deck in the PDF. Apply the brand colors, fonts and design rules from the brand guide. Keep all original content intact - just make it look professional and on-brand.

What you get back is a visually consistent presentation with structured layouts, proper typography, balanced spacing and aligned colors. The content stays intact but the visual layer feels deliberate and professional.

The smart move is to create your brand guide once and reuse it forever. From that point on, every new deck automatically fits into the same visual system without manual redesign.

VI. Use Case 4: Build a Step-by-Step Guide for Any Goal

The biggest problem for most people is not knowing the exact sequence of steps to get there. You want to get fit, learn a skill, master a language and build something creative but you don’t know what to do first. So you either guess, waste time on the wrong things or just give up.

NotebookLM can build you a structured training plan from real sources in minutes.

How to Do It

• Step 1: You gather relevant sources (YouTube tutorials, training articles, Reddit threads from coaches, expert fitness blogs) and upload them all to NotebookLM.

• Step 2: Then, you open the slide deck generator.

• Step 3: Ask for a structured progression plan:

Create a slide deck showing a step-by-step plan to master the one-armed pull-up. 
Style: Blackboard aesthetic with chalk writing.

You will get a structured guide that outlines baseline strength requirements, progressive drills, stage-by-stage advancement and practical cues for each movement.

Instead of guessing what comes next, you follow a clear path. You can save it to your phone and use it during training.

And this isn’t limited to fitness. You can apply this workflow to literally any goal with a learning curve, like learning video editing, launching an e-commerce store, mastering an instrument or understanding machine learning.

All you need to do is collect quality sources, upload them and ask for a progression plan. Done.

VII. Use Case 5: Create an Interactive Workshop Deck on Short Notice

Imagine it’s Monday morning and your manager just told you you're leading a workshop on Friday. But you have no slides, no clear plan and honestly, you’ve never led a workshop before.

What would you do? In this kind of situation, most people delay starting, then rush at the last minute and hope for the best.

There’s a faster way to handle it.

How to Do It

• Step 1: You create a notebook on your workshop topic. Upload relevant sources: articles, case studies, tutorial videos, examples and research.

• Step 2: Open the slide deck generator.

• Step 3: Ask for a workshop structure specifically:

Turn this notebook into a hands-on workshop slide deck for people learning AI for the first time. Include case studies for group discussion, interactive tasks, reflection questions and clear learning objectives.

What comes out is more than a presentation. It’s an actual workshop with real interactive elements:

• Case studies with discussion prompts.

• Live activities participants can try.

• Reflection questions to check understanding.

• A clear flow from intro to practice to wrap-up.

By the end, it looks like something that took a week of preparation. The difference is that you focused on structure and interaction from the start instead of scrambling to fill slides. That’s how you turn a rushed presentation into a structured learning experience.

VIII. Use Case 6: Create Side-by-Side Debate Slides on Controversial Topics

Most people research topics the same way: they find sources that confirm what they already think, read them and feel satisfied. The problem is that's not understanding a topic, that’s just confirmation bias.

If you're preparing for a real debate, making an important business decision or trying to teach critical thinking, you need the full picture. Both sides are organized clearly so you can compare arguments head-to-head.

How to Do It

• Step 1: Upload sources representing both sides. For example, on the topic of AI: articles arguing AI is broadly positive, alongside articles arguing it's dangerous or harmful.

• Step 2: Open the slide deck generator.

• Step 3: Request the debate format:

Create a slide deck where each slide is split in two, showing opposing views on whether AI is good or bad. Left side: Pro-AI arguments. Right side: Concerns and risks. Organize by topic: jobs, healthcare, safety, privacy.

At the end, you will get a head-to-head comparison slide deck where every slide covers one topic and presents the strongest case for each side. For example:

• Jobs & Economy: AI creates new industries and raises productivity on one side, vs. AI eliminates jobs and widens inequality on the other.

• Healthcare: AI accelerates drug discovery and improves diagnostics, versus AI producing biased treatment recommendations and reducing human oversight.

• Safety: AI can be regulated and controlled and AI poses risks that are genuinely hard to predict or contain.

This format is excellent for debate prep, business decision-making, classroom discussions or any situation where understanding complexity actually matters.

IX. Use Case 7: Generate Detailed Speaker Notes for Any Presentation

Many people can build strong slides but delivering them confidently without rambling, forgetting key points or running out of things to say on a given slide is the harder part.

Speaker notes exist for this reason but writing detailed, useful speaker notes for every single slide takes a long time.

Here's how you can generate them automatically using the same material that built the deck:

• Step 1: Create your slide deck in NotebookLM using any method above.

• Step 2: Download the finished presentation.

• Step 3: Upload that presentation back into NotebookLM as a new source.

• Step 4: Go to the Chat tab (not the slide generator).

• Step 5: Ask for structured speaker notes:

Create detailed speaker notes for the presentation I uploaded. For each slide, include: a summary of the slide content, key talking points, relevant examples or data from the sources and a suggested transition to the next slide.

The result is a full set of slide-by-slide notes grounded in your real content, not generic filler. Each set of notes is specific to that slide, pulls relevant data and examples and tells you exactly how to move from one slide to the next.

You can copy them into your presenter view and rehearse a few times. Even if it’s your first time presenting the material, the structure gives you clarity and confidence.

X. Limitations You Should Know Before Going All In

NotebookLM decks include a watermark and you can’t edit decks inside NotebookLM. Many decks also share a similar “clean” aesthetic unless you push hard with style instructions. Knowing this prevents disappointment.

Key takeaways

• Watermark can’t be removed in-tool.

• No in-tool slide editing.

• Visual style can feel similar by default.

• Specific style prompts help differentiate.

NotebookLM is best for fast generation. Final polish often happens in Slides/PowerPoint.

I know that NotebookLM slide decks are genuinely powerful but they still have three real constraints worth knowing before going all in.

1. Watermarks

Every generated deck includes a NotebookLM watermark in the bottom-right corner and there’s no built-in option to remove it.

• For casual use, learning materials or internal drafts, this doesn't matter.

• For client-facing or official presentations, you'll want to either edit the slides manually in Google Slides after export or use a dedicated AI presentation tool with full editing capabilities.

2. No In-Tool Editing

Once NotebookLM generates a deck, you can't edit it inside NotebookLM.

If something feels slightly off, your options are:

• Download and edit manually in Google Slides or PowerPoint.

• Regenerate with more specific instructions.

• Switch to a tool that supports live editing.

If the first output is close but not quite right, the fastest fix is usually to regenerate with tighter style instructions.

3. Similar Visual Aesthetic Across Decks

Even with customization, NotebookLM decks tend to share a similar clean, professional look. They’re polished but not wildly unique by default.

If you want something distinctive, you need to be very specific with style instructions.
Prompts like “manga-style,” “1960s NASA poster,” “chalkboard classroom,” or “modern startup pitch deck” can push the design in noticeably different directions.

Here’s what it looks like after switching use case 2 to a “modern Japanese manga style.”

Knowing these limits helps you use the tool more strategically instead of being surprised later.

XI. Conclusion

The real value of NotebookLM in 2026 isn't just "AI search"; it's Creative Synthesis. By using the pencil icon and treating the AI as a designer rather than just a writer, you reclaim hours of your week.

So, the next time you open NotebookLM, don't just click Generate. Write one good instruction, give it style, structure and purpose. The difference in output quality is immediate and after a few tries, it starts to feel less like using a tool and more like working with a collaborator.

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