Why most people underuse automation
Kortex includes an “If This Then That” automation engine for NotebookLM workflows. Most users discover it, set up one rule, and forget about it.
The real value is in combinations — automations that chain together so that adding a single tag to a notebook triggers a whole workflow. Here are 10 of the most useful patterns we’ve seen, organized by what they solve.
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For researchers
1. The Auto-Brief on creation
Trigger: Notebook created → Action: Run Auto-Researcher
Every new notebook automatically gets a Briefing Doc generated within minutes of creation. By the time you’ve finished uploading your sources, there’s already a structured summary waiting.
2. The peer review simulator
Trigger: Tag #review-ready added → Action: Run prompt “What methodological weaknesses does this research have?”
Use this before finalizing any research project. The automation runs the critique prompt against all your sources as soon as you mark the notebook ready.
3. The cross-notebook citation tracker
Trigger: Tag #cross-ref added → Action: Export source list as Markdown
Mark any notebook that might share sources with other projects. The export gives you a clean list of sources to check for overlap.
For content creators
4. The content pipeline
Trigger: Notebook created with tag #content → Actions: Generate FAQ + Generate Study Guide
For content creators who research before writing: as soon as you create a content research notebook, Kortex generates both a FAQ (what readers will want to know) and a Study Guide (the key concepts you need to understand).
5. The podcast feed
Trigger: Audio Overview generated → Action: Add to personal RSS feed
This is the “set it and forget it” workflow for Audio Overviews. Every new overview automatically appears in your podcast app. Subscribers of your feed get it too if you’ve made it public.
6. The social clip extractor
Trigger: Tag #clip added → Action: Run prompt “Extract the 5 most quotable, shareable sentences from this source”
Perfect for content repurposing. Run this on any source that has strong writing and you’ll have social post candidates in seconds.
For knowledge workers
7. The client intake sorter
Trigger: Tag #[client-name] added → Action: Move to [Client Name] Collection
Each client gets a tag and a collection. When you tag a notebook with #acme, it moves to the Acme collection automatically. No manual filing.
8. The weekly digest
Trigger: Every Monday at 9am → Action: Export all notebooks tagged #active as a summary
A scheduled automation that gives you a weekly overview of what’s in your active notebooks. Useful as a weekly research review.
9. The archive cleaner
Trigger: Notebook not accessed in 30 days → Action: Add tag #stale and notify
Kortex flags inactive notebooks for your attention. You decide what to do — archive, export, or keep active. No automatic deletion.
For teams (coming soon)
10. The team sync
Trigger: Notebook tagged #shared → Action: Export as PDF and save to shared folder
This workflow currently requires manual folder syncing but pairs well with Google Drive integration. When a research notebook is ready to share, one tag exports it and moves it to the right place.
Building your own
The best automation is the one that removes a step you do manually every time. Look at your last 10 NotebookLM sessions and ask: what did I do the same way each time? That’s your first automation candidate.