Can You Merge Notebooks in NotebookLM? Here's the Workaround

Short answer: NotebookLM doesn't have a "merge notebooks" button. You cannot combine two notebooks into one inside NotebookLM itself. The practical workaround is to consolidate sources from multiple notebooks into a single destination, which the NotebookLM Tools Chrome extension supports with its Copy/Move Sources Between Notebooks feature.

This guide walks through why consolidating matters, what NotebookLM supports out of the box, and the exact workaround that works today.

Why People Want to Merge Notebooks

A few common reasons:

Project consolidation — you started two notebooks on related topics and now want to treat them as one body of research.
Deduplication — duplicate notebooks were created by mistake (shared with you, imported, or auto-created from Drive).
Studio unification — you want one audio overview, one mind map, or one report covering sources that are currently split across notebooks.
Research consolidation — you want to pull together related sources from several notebooks so everything lives in one place.

What NotebookLM Supports Natively

As of 2026, Google NotebookLM does not offer:

A "merge notebooks" action
Bulk copy of sources from notebook A into notebook B
A multi-notebook view that treats selected notebooks as a single context

You can share a notebook, duplicate a single source by re-uploading it, or copy chat output between notebooks manually. None of these combine notebooks at the source level.

The Workaround: Copy or Move Sources Between Notebooks

The reliable pattern is to pick one notebook as the destination and transfer the sources from the others into it. NotebookLM Tools adds a built-in Copy/Move Sources Between Notebooks action that NotebookLM itself lacks.

Step 1: Decide the destination notebook

Pick the notebook you want to keep — usually the one with the most chat history, the better studio outputs, or the cleaner structure.

Step 2: Select the sources you want to move

Open the notebook you want to consolidate from. Tick the checkboxes next to the sources you want to bring over — you can select a few or the entire list. NotebookLM Tools shows a selection bar at the bottom with bulk actions.

Step 3: Click "Copy to" and pick the destination

In the selection bar, click Copy to and choose the destination notebook. The extension displays a compatibility preview before anything is transferred:

URL, YouTube, and PDF sources — re-added in the destination as the original type (links preserved).
Google Docs / Drive / Sheets — copied over as text content.
Slides, images, and videos — skipped, since those source types can't be re-added programmatically.

Confirm, and the selected sources land in the destination notebook. If you pick the optional Move mode instead of Copy, the originals are removed from the source notebook once the transfer completes.

Alternative: Backup & Restore across notebooks

If you prefer a file-based workflow, NotebookLM Tools' per-notebook Backup & Restore feature also works: export the source notebook as a JSON (or ZIP of .md files), then import it into the destination. Backup & Restore is non-destructive and useful when you want an archive of the original notebook before consolidating. For most day-to-day consolidation, though, Copy/Move Sources is faster — one dialog, no intermediate file.

Step 4: Re-create studio items (optional)

If the source notebook had audio overviews, mind maps, reports, or quizzes you want to keep, NotebookLM doesn't copy those across. Use studio generation in the destination notebook to regenerate whatever you need.

Step 5: Archive or delete the old notebook

Once everything you need is in the destination, archive or delete the source notebook so it doesn't clutter your library.

Tips for Smoother Merges

Use folders before you merge. Before moving sources across, create folders in the destination notebook. Import the batch from each source notebook into its own folder so you don't lose the original grouping.

Check for duplicates. If both notebooks already share some of the same sources (a common Drive doc, a shared YouTube video), NotebookLM will accept duplicates silently. Review the source list after merging and remove any exact duplicates.

Refresh after merging. Large merges can leave some Google Drive sources in a stale state. Run the source freshness sync to force an update across all sources in the destination notebook.

Export the chat history first. If the chat in the source notebook contains insights you want to preserve, copy the relevant conversation to a note before you merge. NotebookLM doesn't carry chat history across notebooks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can NotebookLM merge two notebooks with one click?

No. NotebookLM has no built-in "merge" feature. The workaround is to consolidate sources into one destination notebook, which NotebookLM Tools supports directly with its Copy/Move Sources Between Notebooks action.

Will merging lose my chat history?

Yes, if you do it the manual way. Chat history stays with the original notebook. Copy anything important to a note or document before archiving the old notebook.

Can I merge more than two notebooks at once?

Yes. Pick one destination and repeat the Copy/Move step for each source notebook. Using folders per origin notebook keeps the structure intact.

Does NotebookLM plan to add a native merge feature?

Google has not announced a merge feature as of April 2026. Until it ships, the Copy/Move Sources workaround is the practical approach.

Keep Your Notebooks Organized

Merging is usually a symptom of a larger organization problem. Once your notebooks are consolidated, a few habits keep things from fragmenting again: use folders to separate sub-topics inside a single notebook, tag notebooks to group related projects, and use cross-notebook search to find content across your library without merging in the first place.

Install NotebookLM Tools to get the Copy/Move Sources action this workaround relies on.

Related articles:

How to Organize NotebookLM Sources with Folders — Group sources after a merge.
NotebookLM Tips #5: Merge Sources for Better AI Context — Combine fragmented sources within a single notebook.
NotebookLM Tips #3: All the Ways to Import Sources — The import methods the merge workaround relies on.
NotebookLM Tips #6: Backup and Restore — Export source lists before merging.