Google’s NotebookLM adds ‘Deep Research’ tool and support for more file types

Google is updating NotebookLM, its AI note-taking and research assistant, with a new tool designed to help users simplify complex research, alongside support for additional file types.

The service is rolling out “Deep Research,” a tool that automates and simplifies complex online research. Google states that the tool acts like a dedicated researcher, capable of synthesizing a detailed report or recommending relevant articles, papers, or websites.

Deep Research can take a user's question, create a research plan, and then browse websites on their behalf. After a few minutes, it presents a source-grounded report that can be added directly into the user's notebook. The tool runs in the background, allowing users to continue their workflow while a deep, organized knowledge base on a topic is being created.

Users can access Deep Research by starting a search in the source panel and selecting “Web” as a source. They can choose "Deep Research" for a full briefing and in-depth analysis, or "Fast Research" for a quick search.

Regarding file support, users can now upload Google Sheets, Drive files as URLs, PDFs from Google Drive, and Microsoft Word Documents. Google says this change will enable users to generate summaries from spreadsheets and quickly copy-paste multiple Drive files as URLs. These new updates are expected to be available to all users within a week.

Since its launch in late 2023, Google has continuously added functionality to NotebookLM, including Video Overviews to turn dense multimedia into visual presentations and Audio Overviews which generates an AI podcast based on shared documents. Earlier this year, Google also released the NotebookLM apps for Android and iOS.