Professionals across many fields—from legal and HR to research, engineering, marketing, and finance—frequently face the time-consuming task of analyzing complex documents like contracts, regulations, technical specifications, research papers, or internal policies. NotebookLM stands out by grounding its responses strictly in the documents you provide. Unlike general AI models relying on broad training data, NotebookLM focuses solely on your uploaded sources. This makes it invaluable for examining proprietary information, recent legal updates, detailed technical standards, niche research, or specific internal guidelines, ensuring insights are relevant and directly traceable to your authoritative texts.

This article provides a practical guide to using NotebookLM for detailed document analysis. While we will focus on step-by-step examples from the legal and HR domains—checking an employment contract against the new FTC Non-Compete Rule and answering employee questions based on a university's HR policies—the principles apply broadly. Imagine using the same technique to review a technical design against engineering codes and internal guidelines, analyze a research paper against existing literature, or check marketing copy for compliance with brand and regulatory standards.

Key Objectives

• Learn how to upload and manage source documents in NotebookLM.
• Analyze an employment contract clause against a recent US federal regulation.
• Evaluate an employee query based on a complex HR policy manual.
• Understand how NotebookLM cites sources to support its answers.

Step 1 - Download your source documents

Let's start with example 1 where the URL for the FTC Non-Compete Clause Rule is: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/05/07/2024-09171/non-compete-clause-rule .

Remember to download the 165-page PDF version from that page.

Step 2 - Access NotebookLM and create a new notebook

Begin by navigating to the NotebookLM website https://notebooklm.google/. Create a new notebook for your project. Think of a notebook as a dedicated space to upload documents related to a specific topic or task. Click the "Create new" button to create a new notebook. 

Step 3 - Upload your source documents

With your new notebook created, the next step is to upload the documents that NotebookLM will use as its reference. For our first example, we will upload the PDF of the FTC's new Non-Compete Clause Rule. Navigate to where you have saved the downloaded PDF of the rule. Click the upload button within your NotebookLM interface and select the FTC rule PDF or simply drag and drop it into the Upload sources area.

NotebookLM will process the document, making it available for analysis within your notebook. This may take a few moments, depending on the size and complexity of the PDF.

NotebookLM will automatically name our Notebook and also offer a short summary of the uploaded PDF. 

Next, for the first example, we will consider a sample non-compete agreement from this website: https://eforms.com/non-compete/ with the contract being downloadable under: https://eforms.com/download/2016/08/non-compete-agreement-template.pdf.

Upload this 2nd document now by clicking the Sources - Add button.

After uploading this second document both are now in our Sources secion.

Step 4 - Analyze a non-compete agreement contract against the FTC Non-Compete rule

Now that our documents are uploaded, we can begin asking questions. Let's start with our first example.

Imagine you have an employment contract like our example PDF with the following clause: "V. NON-COMPETE. The Owner shall possess, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, the following protections from the Recipient engaging in the following activities: _____________________________"

In the chat interface within your NotebookLM notebook frame your question clearly to direct NotebookLM's analysis.

Prompt

My non-compete agreement includes the following section:
"V. NON-COMPETE. The Owner shall possess, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, the following protections from the Recipient engaging in the following activities: _____________________________"
Assuming this section is intended to prevent me from working for a competitor or starting a competing business after my employment ends, is this type of non-compete clause generally enforceable for a worker who is not a senior executive, according to the new FTC rule? Please explain based on the FTC document.

NotebookLM will process your question, analyzing the content of the FTC Non-Compete Clause Rule document you uploaded. It will look for information within that document that addresses the enforceability of non-compete clauses for employees who are not classified as senior executives.

So the output indicates that, according to the FTC rule, for workers who are not senior executives, new non-compete clauses are banned, and existing ones are generally unenforceable after the effective date of the rule. NotebookLM points to the sections in the FTC rule document that state this prohibition and define who qualifies as a senior executive.

If NotebookLM's answer is not immediately clear or you want to delve deeper into a specific point it raises, you can ask follow-up questions. For instance, you might ask for the exact definition of "senior executive" as provided in the document.

Prompt

What is the definition of "senior executive" according to the FTC Non-Compete Clause Rule document?

This iterative questioning allows you to explore the document's content thoroughly and ensure you understand the basis of NotebookLM's initial response.

Saving chat information

Clicking the "Save to note" button will create a Note out of the AI's chat reply for you to have it accessible later.

Now we check if there are any other violations in our non-compete agreement.

Prompt

Based on the uploaded FTC Rule document, review the complete Non-Compete Agreement. Identify sections besides Section V that conflict for non-senior executives. Explain each conflict and cite the FTC document.

It seems that Section VI could also potentially conflict with the new FTC rule.

Step 5 - Analyze employee questions against company HR regulations

For our second example, we'll introduce a more complex set of HR regulations and use for demonstration purpose the University of California's Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM).

The URL for the UC PPSM policies page is: https://policy.ucop.edu/manuals/personnel-policies-for-staff-members.html

Since we are not sure which of the many policies are relevant for answering our questions we simply download all the ones marked here.

NotebookLM will process these documents, adding them our sources for questioning.

Now using the uploaded University of California PPSM documents we will analyze a few employee questions in the context of these policies.

Imagine an employee has a complicated question, so we ask in the chat:

Prompt

Can I use my accrued paid sick leave to care for my registered domestic partner's parent who requires care due to illness? If yes, are there limitations stated in the policy on how much sick leave can be used for this specific purpose annually?

NotebookLM will search the uploaded PPSM documents for information and gives us an exact answer.

Let's consider another employee question that is even more complicated:

Prompt

Consider a full-time staff employee who has completed 6 years of qualifying service and holds a Career Appointment. If this employee takes an approved Family and Medical Leave for their own serious health condition that lasts for 8 continuous weeks, and takes this leave unpaid (without substituting any accrued leave), how does this 8-week unpaid FML period affect their accrual of vacation leave and sick leave? Explain the rules for accruing vacation and sick leave during unpaid leaves of absence based on the policy text.

Throughout these examples, notice how NotebookLM consistently refers back to the uploaded documents, providing citations for its answers. This is its core strength, ensuring that the information you receive is directly supported by your provided sources, making it a reliable tool for reviewing specific legal and HR texts.

Summary

NotebookLM empowers you to quickly analyze critical documents. By uploading laws, regulations, contracts, or policies, you create a focused knowledge base, enabling NotebookLM to answer your questions with precision, citing directly from your sources.

We demonstrated this by checking a contract against the recent FTC Non-Compete Rule and interpreting complex HR policies. This grounding in your specific documents is invaluable for recent, confidential, or niche information, saving significant time compared to manual searches and ensuring interpretations are based on authoritative texts.

Ending

Consider applying NotebookLM to other documents like client agreements, technical standards, or compliance guidelines. The process is straightforward: upload documents, ask targeted questions, and review the AI's responses along with their source citations.

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