Google AI introduces Collections to Gemini Notebook as tool expands across workspace

Google is fixing the biggest problem with having too many Gemini notebooks

What started as Project Tailwind, an experimental tool Google launched at its I/O 2023 event, became NotebookLM and is now one of the company's most popular AI tools. The biggest reason for its success is that the AI notebook has only improved over time, bringing more users into its fold. Although Google hasn't revealed its plans for the future of its AI notebook, the recent rebranding from NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook signals a strong commitment to making it a core part of the Gemini ecosystem. Time will tell how much success it achieves under the new name, but Google has already started working towards making Gemini Notebook more useful. Google has recently announced a new feature called Collections in Gemini Notebook to help users quickly find their notebooks. Gemini Notebook gets Collections to help you organize your notebooks Collections wants to remove the biggest pain points of having too many notebooks Collections isn't a complicated feature in Gemini Notebook. It simply allows you to group similar notebooks under a common folder, much like creating playlists for your favorite songs. Grouping similar notebooks into a folder is far better than keeping them scattered in the My notebooks section in Gemini Notebook, especially when you have too many of them. You just need to know which Collection a notebook belongs to and then open it to find it. Before this, you might have had to spend a few minutes or even more scrolling through a long list of notebooks, while carefully searching for the right one. So, simply put, Collections is just a clever way of narrowing the list before you search. On the Gemini Notebook's X handle, Google has posted a video on how the Collections feature works. The tutorial shows that the Collections tab is available right beside the Shared with me tab. After you select Collections, you can create multiple such folders where you have the option to add or remove your notebooks. You can also customize Gemini Notebook's Collections. For example, while creating Collections, you can also use emojis to name the folder. You can also change their names. However, one major limitation with Collections is that you can't share them with anyone. But on the brighter side of things, Google has shown interest in adding the ability to share collections after a user on X requested the feature. Google is currently rolling out the Collections feature to Gemini Notebook, but not everyone will get it at the same time. It's rolling out gradually and should be available to everyone very soon.

Gemini Notebook's new Collections arrive just as Google turns it into a bigger workspace

Google is cleaning up notebook organization as the former NotebookLM expands across Gemini and Search Google has barely finished renaming NotebookLM, and it's already addressing one of the headaches that comes with building a large research library. Collections are rolling out to all Gemini Notebook users, giving them a way to group related notebooks while keeping everything visible under My Notebooks. The dashboard gets some structure without asking users to rearrange the library they've already built. Recommended Videos The timing isn't accidental. Google is connecting the former NotebookLM more closely with Gemini and Google Search, turning a standalone research tool into something users can carry across more of its AI products. How Collections differ from folders A notebook can belong to several Collections at once. The same research project could sit under a work collection and a broader topic without creating a duplicate or forcing users to choose one permanent home. Collections therefore behave more like labels or playlists than conventional folders. Anything that doesn't need sorting can stay ungrouped under My Notebooks. The setup is deliberately simple. It gives crowded dashboards some breathing room without introducing a complicated filing system that users then have to maintain. Why organization is becoming more important Notebooks can now appear inside the Gemini app, where users can work with uploaded material alongside earlier chats and custom instructions. Changes sync with the separate Gemini Notebook service, allowing the same project to continue across both products. Google is also bringing Gemini Notebook into Search. With notebooks gaining more places to appear and more ways to accumulate information, leaving them in one increasingly crowded library would become frustrating quickly. Collections add an organizational layer before that expansion makes the dashboard harder to navigate. What Collections still don't offer Google hasn't announced nested Collections, automatic sorting, or a full file-management system. Users can group notebooks, but they can't build a detailed hierarchy or hand the cleanup over to Gemini. That leaves Collections with a narrow job. They divide a growing library into useful groups without duplicating projects or removing anything from the main dashboard. For anyone already staring at a messy wall of notebooks, that may be enough. Users expecting the control of a proper folder system will still find the new setup fairly basic.