--- title: I added one thing to my NotebookLM prompts, and it... description: A user shares two prompt tweaks to stop NotebookLM (recently rebranded to Gemini Notebook as of July 2026) from over-explaining and drifting off-topic. The... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-one-thing-to-my-notebooklm-prompts-and-it-stopped-giving-me-answers-i-never-asked-for-comkea7uj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I added one thing to my NotebookLM prompts, and it stopped giving me answers I never asked for | daily.dev og:description: A user shares two prompt tweaks to stop NotebookLM (recently rebranded to Gemini Notebook as of July 2026) from over-explaining and drifting off-topic. The... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-one-thing-to-my-notebooklm-prompts-and-it-stopped-giving-me-answers-i-never-asked-for-comkea7uj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/CoMkea7Uj.png og:image:alt: I added one thing to my NotebookLM prompts, and it stopped giving me answers I never asked for og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I added one thing to my NotebookLM prompts, and it stopped giving me answers I never asked for **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A user shares two prompt tweaks to stop NotebookLM (recently rebranded to Gemini Notebook as of July 2026) from over-explaining and drifting off-topic. The first instruction tells it to skip context-setting and background and answer only the literal question asked. The second asks it to list what it answered, what it left out, and what it couldn't answer, turning each response into a self-audit. The author notes NotebookLM has felt chattier since being folded under the Gemini brand. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why does NotebookLM give me long, over-explained answers instead of just answering my question? NotebookLM has gotten chattier and tends to add setup, definitions, and background context before answering, especially since being folded under the Gemini brand and renamed to Gemini Notebook in July 2026. Adding a prompt instruction like 'assume I've read every source, skip context-setting and background, only surface what I'd miss on a careful read' combined with 'answer only the literal question I asked, don't expand scope' removes most of that padding. _daily.dev surfaces practical prompting fixes like this for people fine-tuning their AI research workflows._ ### Was NotebookLM renamed to Gemini Notebook? Yes, NotebookLM was officially renamed to Gemini Notebook in July 2026. It remains the same product with the same team and content, and Google's redirect accepts both names, though many users still refer to it as NotebookLM out of habit. _Developers tracking AI tool rebrands and product changes can follow updates like this on daily.dev._ ### How can I make an AI research tool tell me what it left out of its answer? Add an instruction asking the tool to end every response with three things: what it actually answered, what was relevant in the sources but left out, and what it couldn't answer from the sources at all. This turns each answer into a mini audit and reveals when the tool is re-ranking or selectively choosing which source material to surface. _Teams refining AI-assisted research workflows can find more prompting tactics like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Google's NotebookLM integration ruins the one thing that made it special](https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-notebooklm-integration-ruins-the-one-thing-that-made-it-special-orkdj9isa) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Google recommends these 7 NotebookLM prompts, and they showed me what I was missing](https://daily.dev/posts/google-recommends-these-7-notebooklm-prompts-and-they-showed-me-what-i-was-missing-2upulabkn) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm), [#prompt-engineering](https://daily.dev/tags/prompt-engineering), [#google-gemini](https://daily.dev/tags/google-gemini), [#notebooklm](https://daily.dev/tags/notebooklm) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-one-thing-to-my-notebooklm-prompts-and-it-stopped-giving-me-answers-i-never-asked-for-comkea7uj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I added one thing to my NotebookLM prompts, and it stopped giving me answers I never asked for","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-one-thing-to-my-notebooklm-prompts-and-it-stopped-giving-me-answers-i-never-asked-for-comkea7uj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-one-thing-to-my-notebooklm-prompts-and-it-stopped-giving-me-answers-i-never-asked-for-comkea7uj"},"datePublished":"2026-08-22T14:33:04.487Z","dateModified":"2026-08-24T16:36:14.501Z","description":"A user shares two prompt tweaks to stop NotebookLM (recently rebranded to Gemini Notebook as of July 2026) from over-explaining and drifting off-topic. The...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ad73e0dc8a6a515eef0ccd268b9d271?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ad73e0dc8a6a515eef0ccd268b9d271?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-one-thing-to-my-notebooklm-prompts-and-it-stopped-giving-me-answers-i-never-asked-for-comkea7uj","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"llm,prompt-engineering,google-gemini,notebooklm","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I added one thing to my NotebookLM prompts, and it stopped giving me answers I never asked for"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-one-thing-to-my-notebooklm-prompts-and-it-stopped-giving-me-answers-i-never-asked-for-comkea7uj#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why does NotebookLM give me long, over-explained answers instead of just answering my question?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"NotebookLM has gotten chattier and tends to add setup, definitions, and background context before answering, especially since being folded under the Gemini brand and renamed to Gemini Notebook in July 2026. Adding a prompt instruction like 'assume I've read every source, skip context-setting and background, only surface what I'd miss on a careful read' combined with 'answer only the literal question I asked, don't expand scope' removes most of that padding. daily.dev surfaces practical prompting fixes like this for people fine-tuning their AI research workflows."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Was NotebookLM renamed to Gemini Notebook?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, NotebookLM was officially renamed to Gemini Notebook in July 2026. It remains the same product with the same team and content, and Google's redirect accepts both names, though many users still refer to it as NotebookLM out of habit. Developers tracking AI tool rebrands and product changes can follow updates like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How can I make an AI research tool tell me what it left out of its answer?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Add an instruction asking the tool to end every response with three things: what it actually answered, what was relevant in the sources but left out, and what it couldn't answer from the sources at all. This turns each answer into a mini audit and reveals when the tool is re-ranking or selectively choosing which source material to surface. Teams refining AI-assisted research workflows can find more prompting tactics like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```