Community Guidelines
We frequently receive user inquiries via email about general features or usability of NotebookLM. To comply with GDPR and to protect your privacy, we encourage you to leave your questions or comments directly on the relevant article. This approach has two benefits:
- It keeps your email private.
- It allows the whole community to benefit from our responses, fostering broader discussions and reducing repetitive questions.
If you’re reaching out for our AI-driven SEO services, please feel free to contact us directly—we’ll respond promptly.
To whomever this may concern,
I hope you are doing well.
I wanted to ask, while using NotebookLM is there a possibility to export the citations created by the AI?
Currently, if I copy the reply given to me by the platform via the copy button, the citations are excluded. If I select the text, copy it and paste it into a separate document, it copies the numbers but not the hyperlinks to the documents. Nor does it give me a simple reference to the document.
Thus, is there a way in which I can export the answer the AI gives me to separate a document including the citations of sources?
Thank you and have a great rest of the day.
All my best,
Lynn
Hi Lynn,
The developers of NotebookLM have crafted a rich user experience that leverages advanced web technologies not typically found in everyday tools like Microsoft Word, PDF, or Microsoft Excel. This rich interactivity within NotebookLM is achieved through a combination of technologies including JavaScript, the Document Object Model (DOM), CSS, event listeners, and specialised scroll functions. These elements work together to enable dynamic interactions like clickable citations that enhance the way content is accessed and presented.
Regarding your question about copying text and expecting citations with proper references to be replicated outside of NotebookLM, unfortunately, this is not how the tool is intended to function by its developers. Given that NotebookLM is still in a testing phase, it has its limitations, but providing the ability to copy plain text with citations as external links would be a step back in terms of functionality. The developers have not included this feature.
However, NotebookLM offers the capability to share your entire note, complete with the necessary privacy controls you can set yourself. This ensures that anyone you share the note with will have the same rich experience. All collaborators can click on the citations and be immediately taken to the source on the split screen.
If you have not noticed yet, a new feature introduced on November 26, 2024, allows users to combine all notes and Sources or select combinations of them. You’ll find this feature at the top of your notebook screen, but it becomes visible only when two or more sources are active. Once it appears, it will be located beside the “Add note” option. By default, the tool enables you to merge all your notes into a single source. However, you also have the flexibility to select specific notes and convert just those. Whichever method you choose, the notes will be compiled into one source, with a divider separating each note. The resulting source will have a name like “All notes 27/11/24” for clear identification.
We will soon publish a detailed article to guide NotebookLM users on making the most of this feature. Be sure to check frequently for updates on NotebookLM.in. You can also read our latest post on the lack of NotebookLM documentation, which leads to issues like the one you faced. Please share your views in the comments.
Editorial Team #NotebookLM.in