Google's AI-powered research and writing assistant, NotebookLM, is closing out 2025 with a significant update aimed at making its generated content more actionable and collaborative. The service, which allows users to upload documents and interact with them conversationally, is introducing two powerful new capabilities: the ability to export notes and the generation of structured Data Tables from unstructured information. These features represent a move beyond simple Q&A, positioning NotebookLM as a tool for organizing insights and facilitating real-world project work.
New Features in NotebookLM (December 2025 Update):
- Data Tables: Automatically structures unstructured notebook information into clean tables. Available now for Pro/Ultra tiers, rolling out to free users soon.
- Export Functionality: Allows export of notes and reports to Google Docs and Google Sheets via a menu option.
- Limitation: Cannot export presentations to Google Slides or PPT format.
New Export Options Enhance Collaboration and Usability
A major limitation for users of AI note-taking tools has been the difficulty of moving content out of the proprietary environment. Google has addressed this in NotebookLM by introducing export functionality. Users can now take the notes, summaries, and reports generated within the app and export them directly to Google Docs or Google Sheets via a menu option. This allows for seamless editing, formatting, and sharing with collaborators who may not use NotebookLM themselves. While the current export options do not yet support Google Slides—meaning full presentations created in NotebookLM must remain within the app for now—the addition of Docs and Sheets support significantly lowers the barrier to practical use, enabling teams to incorporate AI-generated insights directly into their existing workflows.
Data Tables Transform Chaos into Clarity
Perhaps the most impactful new feature is Data Tables. NotebookLM can now analyze the messy, unstructured text from your sources—be it meeting transcripts, research notes, or brainstorming sessions—and automatically organize the key information into clean, structured tables. This automation saves users the tedious manual work of sifting through notes to create organized datasets. Practical applications are immediately apparent: turning a rambling meeting transcript into a table of actionable items categorized by owner and priority, comparing product features or vacation destinations across defined criteria, or creating study guides for students that list historical events by date, consequence, and key figures. This feature leverages the AI's understanding of context and relationships within text to create logical, useful structures from informational chaos.
Tiered Rollout and Future Roadmap
As with many of Google's AI features, this rollout is tiered. The powerful Data Tables feature is available immediately to subscribers of the AI Pro and Ultra tiers, while free users will gain access in the coming weeks. The export feature appears to be more widely available. Google indicates this is the final major update for NotebookLM in 2025, but the pace of development suggests more is on the horizon for 2026. A highly anticipated upgrade is the integration of the more advanced Gemini 3 model, which powers other Google AI services but has not yet reached NotebookLM. The combination of more powerful underlying AI with these new structural and export features could make NotebookLM an indispensable tool for researchers, students, and professionals in the new year.