Pocket book LM 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 way of mine with out setting reminders or jotting down just a few 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 learning, I am simply attempting to not overlook one thing I must do.

Whether or not I am in a gathering or researching a brand new matter for a narrative, I take notes as I am going. I attempt 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 best way. My favourite app to make use of is Obsidian. It is nice for preserving tabs on every kind of matters, and a free, easy-to-use note-taking app that is turn out to be in style with hundreds of 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 truly fairly stunning. Not solely is my handwriting atrocious, however my notes will be actually onerous to decipher. Fortunately, AI was in a position to assist me spot some patterns.

Obsidian is straightforward to make use of and easy to combine

I used to be happy with find out how to deliver it over

If you happen to’re utilizing Obsidian, you may open totally 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 utterly as much as you ways you employ them. I like to make use of Obsidian to maintain monitor of my week. I often have a notice with reminders for every day, together with one for freelance matters I need to analysis for story concepts. I am going to even make a each day notice for random ideas or issues I must look into.

Fortunately, there are just a few 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 notice 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 all the pieces suits collectively. So, utilizing Markdown hyperlinks is essential.

Markdown is the key ingredient for straightforward integration

You may copy, paste, and get the hyperlinks

As a result of NotebookLM works with Markdown, I exploit Markdown hyperlinks in my Obsidian notes. I depend on these hyperlinks to attach my notes and assist me perceive which matters are a part of the identical analysis thread. I do maintain them in folders in my vault, however quite than opening one notice 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 related… all because of the Markdown hyperlinks. That is confirmed after I use one of many many options that NotebookLM gives to assist individuals examine 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 matter 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 right this moment and threw them into NotebookLM’s Thoughts Map. It mapped out all of my notes, exhibiting how they’re related and find out how to finest navigate by way of them. It even discovered elements of my analysis and notes that I hadn’t related by way of Markdown hyperlinks and grouped them collectively. That may look like a small factor, however I accomplish that a lot analysis on totally different matters that it may be robust to maintain monitor of all the pieces.

Granted, I do not at all times put all the pieces into Obsidian. However I do regularly hyperlink again to older notes from new ones. Utilizing Thoughts Map helps me make deeper connections to notes I’ll have missed linking. I additionally actually loved the newer NotebookLM instrument, Reviews. I am going to add in a few of my scribblings (which can learn like they’re from a madman) and Reviews 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 net. Since NotebookLM makes use of no matter I present as its supply materials, it may well pull the solutions I want straight from my analysis.

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

I can ask inquiries to remind me concerning the matter

I do a lot in Obsidian to maintain monitor of all the pieces 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 totally 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 develop what I’ve written and make the most of its big selection of options. Maintaining 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 go looking deeper into the analysis. The extra I exploit these two and combine them, the higher they’re going to be, which is one thing I am genuinely so enthusiastic about.