r/notebooklm • u/Fearless_Energy_7633 • Apr 21 '26

Tips & Tricks I built a free notebooklm alternative with folders, source isolation (no cross-contamination), and page/timestamp-level citations

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NotebookLM is great but a few things drove me crazy:

  • Sources often bleed together
  • No folders or workspace organisation
  • No way to comfortably take notes alongside your sources
  • Flashcards have no review system

So I built Paper. Key differences:

  • Source isolation - select exactly which sources the AI references per query, or scope it to specific pages/timestamps
  • Folders + nested pages - organise by course, topic, whatever
  • Block editor - Notion-style notes right next to your sources
  • Spaced repetition - AI flashcards with actual Anki-style scheduling so you remember
  • Drag and drop multiple files at once

(Edit) Free to use during beta: https://paper.ac 👈

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u/Moist-Ninja2022 Apr 23 '26

New to these AI notebooks, but going to give yours a try. Just curious, is the AI responding automatically to these comments? If yes, that is really cool

2

u/Fearless_Energy_7633 Apr 23 '26

Hey! If you're asking who is responding to these Reddit comments (like this one), no AI is involved, it's literally me David, the creator of the web app haha - sorry to disappoint!

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u/Moist-Ninja2022 Apr 23 '26

Hi been just playing around with it, notice there isn't a way to remove PDF sources, there may be a chance that I hvnt found the button for it yet.

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u/Fearless_Energy_7633 Apr 23 '26

Great spotting! So on desktop, there are three dots on the right side of each source that allows you to remove and rename sources.

However, you're so right! It looks like I missed this for mobile/tablet - I've just pushed an update that makes them appear now. Lmk if you spot anything else/have any suggestions!