Answer only from your sources
To answer only from your sources, paste the documents or notes you trust. Tell the chat to quote the line it used, and to say not in my sources when the answer is missing.
Next step: copy the first prompt that matches your task. Fill in the brackets. Send only that.
A prompt is the message you paste. An approval gate is a stop you control. A checkpoint is a pause after one phase. School pages teach. They do not do the homework. Follow your teacher's rules.
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How do you do it?
Do the steps in order. Each line is one action, and you stop at the end of that action.
- 1 Hand over only sources you trust. Paste the notes, or upload a file you are allowed to share. That text is the source. The chat's memory is not a source.
- 2 Say to answer only from those sources. If the fact is not in the paste, the chat stops. It does not fill the hole from the web or from a guess.
- 3 Require the quote. Each claim has to name the line it used, copied from your source. A smooth summary with no line is not done.
- 4 Leave a missing answer missing. The words are not in my sources. You can go find the fact. The chat does not invent one so the reply feels finished.
Work
What prompt fits “A report you already have”?
You need an answer for a meeting. The only source is the report you pasted.
Answer only from the text below. Quote the line you used. If the answer is not in the text, say not in my sources. Do not use the web, memory, or a guess.
Question: [what you need to know]
Text:
[paste]
For each claim: the claim, then the quote, copied from the text. Then stop.School
What prompt fits “A page you have to explain”?
You need the line in the reading. You still write anything you turn in.
This is for learning. Do not write anything I will turn in. Follow my teacher's rules.
Answer only from the passage. Quote the line. If it is not in the passage, say not in my sources. Do not add a study, a page number, or a definition from outside the paste.
Passage:
[paste]
Question I am trying to answer: [your question]
Give the quote, then ask me to explain it in my own words. Do not write the explanation I would turn in. Then stop.Life
What prompt fits “A policy or a manual you pasted”?
You want what the page actually says. A guess about the warranty is not the warranty.
Answer only from the page I pasted. Quote the line you used. If the page does not say, write not in my sources. Do not invent a phone number, a deadline, or a fee.
Page:
[paste]
Question: [what you need]
Then stop.What mistakes should you avoid?
These are the misses that waste the result. Skip them before you send anything.
- Asking a question with no paste, then trusting the confident answer.
- Accepting a summary that never quotes the line.
- Letting 'not in my sources' get replaced by a plausible guess.
- Assuming the Gemini app stays inside the notebook. Google's help says Gemini Notebook does. It says the Gemini app may also use the web.
More in this section: Catch facts the AI made up · Check each phase before the next one
Practice on a real task: Research a topic with AI · Summarize a long report · Understand a hard reading · Make a slide deck with AI
Last updated · All director guides
Where does this come from?
These are public pages. The note after each link is what that page says, in plain words.
- Gemini Notebook. Google's product page says NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook as of July 2026, and that it is the same product. It says responses are grounded in the information you provide, and it calls that source-grounded.
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Use chat in Gemini Notebook”. Google says those chat responses only use data from your sources, and that citations are direct quotes, text, and images. You can hover a citation for the quoted text, or open the line in context. The same page also describes experimental actions that can search the web and work with or without sources. It says Gemini Notebook can make mistakes. You still read the quote.
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Learn about Gemini Notebook”. Google says you chat with a notebook for grounded information from your sources, with in-line citations. If the information is not in the sources you uploaded, that is one reason it may be unable to answer. It also says the product can make mistakes.
- Gemini Notebook Help, “About notebooks in AI Mode”. Google says Gemini Notebook grounds responses exclusively in your notebook sources. It says AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini Apps may also use web search and other tools. A notebook inside the Gemini app is not the same limit as Gemini Notebook itself.
- Google Workspace Updates, “@Gemini Notebook in the Gemini app” (October 23, 2026). Google says you can type @Gemini Notebook in a Gemini chat to create a notebook, add or list sources, or answer from notebook context. It is on by default except in the European Economic Area, where it is off by default. Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and personal Google accounts can get it, and an admin can turn it off. The post does not say the Gemini app will ignore the rest of the web.
What else do people ask?
Open a question. The short answer under it is the one to use.
What does not in my sources mean?
The paste does not contain the answer. That is a result. It is not a failure the chat should paper over.
Is NotebookLM a different product?
Google's product page says NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook as of July 2026, and that your existing notebooks stay. It describes Gemini Notebook as source-grounded.
Does @Gemini Notebook stay inside my notebook?
The October 23, 2026 Workspace update says you can type @Gemini Notebook to ask from notebook context. Google's help says Gemini Notebook itself answers only from your sources, and that the Gemini app may also use web search. Ask for the quote either way.
Can I turn in the quoted answer for class?
No. Use the quote to find the line, then explain it in your own words. Follow your teacher's rules.