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 am unable to get by means of mine with out setting reminders or jotting down a number of issues to jog my reminiscence. It is like I am nonetheless in class and note-taking is my saving grace earlier than the subsequent take a look at — besides as an alternative of learning, I am simply attempting to not neglect one thing I have to do.

Whether or not I am in a gathering or researching a brand new matter for a narrative, I take notes as I’m 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 these days, and I jot issues down alongside the best way. My favourite app to make use of is Obsidian. It is nice for holding tabs on every kind of matters, and a free, easy-to-use note-taking app that is develop into in style with tens of millions 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 shocking. Not solely is my handwriting atrocious, however my notes might be actually exhausting 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 methods to deliver it over

For those who’re utilizing Obsidian, you possibly can open completely 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 fully as much as you the way you utilize them. I like to make use of Obsidian to maintain observe of my week. I normally have a be aware with reminders for every day, together with one for freelance matters I wish to analysis for story concepts. I am going to even make a day by day be aware for random ideas or issues I have to look into.

Fortunately, there are a number of 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 be aware individually. That may current a little bit of a problem, because you may lose the connections between your notes — and the AI might not perceive how the whole lot matches collectively. So, utilizing Markdown hyperlinks is necessary.

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 take advantage of 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 somewhat than opening one be aware 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 due to the Markdown hyperlinks. That is confirmed after I use one of many many options that NotebookLM gives to assist individuals research and do analysis. After all, I additionally fill out my pocket book with different analysis hyperlinks outdoors 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 immediately and threw them into NotebookLM’s Thoughts Map. It mapped out all of my notes, exhibiting how they’re related and methods to greatest navigate by means of them. It even discovered components of my analysis and notes that I hadn’t related through Markdown hyperlinks and grouped them collectively. That may appear to be a small factor, however I achieve this a lot analysis on completely different matters that it may be robust to maintain observe of the whole lot.

Granted, I do not all the time put the whole lot into Obsidian. However I do often hyperlink again to older notes from new ones. Utilizing Thoughts Map helps me make deeper connections to notes I could 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 could pull the solutions I would like straight from my analysis.

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

I can ask inquiries to remind me in regards to the matter

I do a lot in Obsidian to maintain observe of the whole lot occurring in each my skilled and private life. Since I am at my laptop for many of the day, I converted from the iPhone’s Notes app to Obsidian as a result of it is a lot simpler to arrange and customise with completely different options. Now that NotebookLM has a cell app as nicely, 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 benefit from its wide selection of options. Holding Obsidian tidy additionally improves how nicely 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 look deeper into the analysis. The extra I take advantage of these two and combine them, the higher they’re going to be, which is one thing I am genuinely so enthusiastic about.