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.
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.