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 via mine with out setting reminders or jotting down just a few issues to jog my reminiscence. It is like I am nonetheless at school and note-taking is my saving grace earlier than the following check — besides as a substitute of finding out, 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 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 way in which. My favourite app to make use of is Obsidian. It is nice for protecting tabs on all types of matters, and a free, easy-to-use note-taking app that is turn into widespread with thousands and thousands of customers.

I am additionally an enormous 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 really fairly stunning. Not solely is my handwriting atrocious, however my notes will be actually laborious 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 tips on how to convey it over

In the event you’re utilizing Obsidian, you may 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 will even make a every day be aware for random ideas or issues I have to 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 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 every little thing suits collectively. So, utilizing Markdown hyperlinks is essential.

Markdown is the key ingredient for straightforward integration

You’ll be able to 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 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 presents to assist individuals examine 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 a listing of the notes I had opened as we speak and threw them into NotebookLM’s Thoughts Map. It mapped out all of my notes, displaying how they’re related and tips on how to greatest navigate via them. It even discovered components of my analysis and notes that I hadn’t related by way of Markdown hyperlinks and grouped them collectively. Which may look like a small factor, however I achieve this a lot analysis on completely different matters that it may be powerful to maintain observe of every little thing.

Granted, I do not all the time put every little thing into Obsidian. However I do continuously 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 device, Reviews. I will 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 internet. 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.

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

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

I do loads in Obsidian to maintain observe of every little thing occurring in each my skilled and private life. Since I am at my pc 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 prepare and customise with completely different options. Now that NotebookLM has a cellular app as nicely, it opens up much more flexibility in how I combine it with Obsidian.

I can return into Obsidian to revise or increase what I’ve written and reap the benefits of 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 exploit these two and combine them, the higher they’re going to be, which is one thing I am genuinely so enthusiastic about.