NotebookLM Is Now Gemini Notebook: What Changed and What You Keep
Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026. It is the same standalone research tool, so your notebooks, sources, and audio overviews stay put. What is new: notebooks can now run code for data analysis (Google AI Ultra and Workspace business users today, all Pro users over the coming weeks), and they sync with the Gemini app.
Google is renaming NotebookLM, one of its most popular AI research tools, to Gemini Notebook. If you use NotebookLM to study, summarize documents, or turn your notes into audio overviews, the headline you actually care about is simple: nothing you made disappears, and you do not have to move anything. This page explains what changed on July 16, 2026, what stays the same, and who gets the one genuinely new feature that came with the rename.
What Changed
NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook, and Google announced it on July 16, 2026. It is the same standalone product with the same purpose -- your research and learning tool -- now folded under the Gemini brand and wired more tightly into the rest of Google's apps. Google's VP for Labs and the Gemini app, Josh Woodward, framed it as a rename plus an upgrade, not a replacement, per Google's announcement. Two things arrive alongside the new name: notebooks can now run code for deeper data analysis, and they sync with the Gemini app.
Key Takeaways
- NotebookLM is renamed to Gemini Notebook as of July 16, 2026. It is the same standalone product, not a shutdown or a merger.
- Your existing notebooks, sources, and audio overviews stay put. There is nothing to migrate.
- New feature: every notebook is getting a "secure cloud computer" that can write and run code to analyze your uploaded sources.
- That code feature is live today for Google AI Ultra users and eligible Workspace business customers, and rolls out to all Pro users on the web over the coming weeks.
- Notebooks now sync with the Gemini app, and Google says they will reach AI Mode in Google Search soon.
- Google says more than 30 million people and 600,000 organizations use the product, which launched at Google I/O 2023 as Project Tailwind.
Does Anything You Made Disappear?
No. This is a rename, not a reset. Google is explicit that Gemini Notebook "remains a standalone product focused on being your premier research tool," so the notebooks, uploaded PDFs and links, generated summaries, and audio overviews you already created stay in the same place. You do not have to export, re-upload, or recreate anything. In practice, the app you open does the same jobs it did yesterday -- it just carries a new name and connects to more of Google's ecosystem.
What Is Actually New: Running Code in a Notebook
The real upgrade under the new name is that each notebook is getting a secure cloud computer, which lets Gemini Notebook write and execute code on its own to analyze the sources you put in. In plain terms: instead of only summarizing or answering questions about your documents, a notebook can now crunch numbers, build charts, and do deeper data analysis grounded in your own material. Google says this "enables entirely new output formats and deeper analysis." If you have ever pasted a spreadsheet into a chatbot and asked it to find the trend, this is that idea built into your research tool.
This is the one part that depends on your plan. Here is who gets code execution and when, per Google's announcement.
Who Gets the New Features
The rename reaches everyone; the new code-execution feature rolls out by plan. Everything in the table below comes directly from Google's July 16, 2026 announcement.
| What | Who gets it | When |
|---|---|---|
| The Gemini Notebook name + your existing notebooks | Everyone who used NotebookLM | Now (July 16, 2026) |
| Run code in a notebook (secure cloud computer) | Google AI Ultra users; Workspace business customers with AI Ultra Access or AI Expanded Access | Now (July 16, 2026) |
| Run code in a notebook | All Pro users on the web | Over the coming weeks |
| Notebooks inside the Gemini app + cross-app syncing | Gemini app users | Now |
| Notebooks in AI Mode in Google Search | Search users | Announced as coming "soon" |
Google did not say the code-execution feature is coming to the free tier, so if you use Gemini Notebook at no cost, treat the rename and the Gemini-app syncing as what you get today, and the code tool as a paid-plan feature for now.
Why Google Renamed It
The rename is about consolidation: Google is pulling its consumer AI products under the single Gemini name. NotebookLM had always been a slightly separate brand, and moving it to Gemini Notebook signals that it is now part of the same family as the Gemini app and Gemini in your other Google products. The practical payoff for you is the cross-app connection -- Google says you can already create and open notebooks inside the Gemini app, with full syncing between the app and the standalone Gemini Notebook, and that notebooks will show up in AI Mode in Search soon. The product is being wired into the places you already work rather than kept off to the side.
Should You Care?
Care a little, do nothing. If you already use NotebookLM, the only thing you must do is get used to a new name; your work is safe and your workflow is unchanged. If you are on Google AI Ultra or an eligible Workspace plan, it is worth trying the new code feature on a data-heavy notebook -- a spreadsheet of results, a set of survey responses -- to see the deeper analysis it can now do. If you are a Pro user, that same feature is coming to you on the web over the next few weeks. And if you have never tried it, Gemini Notebook is still the best free tool for turning your own documents into summaries and audio overviews.
For the bigger picture on how Gemini's models compare with the alternatives, see Gemini 3.1, explained and our plain-terms guide to which AI chatbot you should pay for. If you are weighing Google's assistant against ChatGPT for everyday use, start with ChatGPT vs Gemini.
The bottom line: NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook -- same tool, same notebooks, new name, and a new code-analysis feature that starts with paid plans. There is nothing to migrate and no reason to worry that your research is going anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is NotebookLM going away?
No. NotebookLM is being renamed to Gemini Notebook, not shut down. Google says it remains the same standalone product focused on research. Your existing notebooks, uploaded sources, and audio overviews stay exactly where they are -- only the name and some behind-the-scenes features change.
Do I lose my notebooks in the switch to Gemini Notebook?
No. The change is a rename, not a migration you have to do. Everything you already made in NotebookLM stays in the same product, now called Gemini Notebook. Google is also adding syncing so your notebooks appear inside the Gemini app.
Does Gemini Notebook cost money now?
The renamed product is still available at no cost, same as NotebookLM. The one new paid-gated feature is running code inside a notebook: it is live for Google AI Ultra and eligible Workspace business users on July 16, 2026, and rolls out to all Pro users on the web over the coming weeks.
What is the new 'secure cloud computer' in Gemini Notebook?
It is a feature that lets a notebook write and run code by itself to analyze your uploaded sources, so you can get charts and deeper data analysis grounded in your own documents. It is starting with Google AI Ultra and Workspace business customers, then Pro users on the web.