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 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 following take a look at — 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 way in which. My favourite app to make use of is Obsidian. It is nice for conserving tabs on all types of matters, and a free, easy-to-use note-taking app that is develop into well-liked with hundreds of 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 arduous 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 learn how to deliver it over

In the event you’re utilizing Obsidian, you possibly can 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 fully 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 be aware with reminders for every day, together with one for freelance matters I need to analysis for story concepts. I will even make a each day be aware for random ideas or issues I must 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 avoid wasting every be aware 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 every thing matches collectively. So, utilizing Markdown hyperlinks is necessary.

Markdown is the key ingredient for simple 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 relatively 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 linked… all due to the Markdown hyperlinks. That is confirmed once I use one of many many options that NotebookLM presents to assist individuals research 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 at this time and threw them into NotebookLM’s Thoughts Map. It mapped out all of my notes, exhibiting how they’re linked and learn how to greatest navigate by means of them. It even discovered elements of my analysis and notes that I hadn’t linked by way of Markdown hyperlinks and grouped them collectively. That may appear to be a small factor, however I achieve this a lot analysis on totally different matters that it may be robust to maintain monitor of every thing.

Granted, I do not at all times put every 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 could have missed linking. I additionally actually loved the newer NotebookLM device, Stories. I will add in a few of my scribblings (which can learn like they’re from a madman) and Stories 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 actually 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 a lot in Obsidian to maintain monitor of every thing 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 cellular app as properly, 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 big selection of options. Preserving Obsidian tidy additionally improves how properly 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.