Level 1: Which Tool for Which Job
Before You Start: About This Course
This course is independent of Google. Google has not written, endorsed or reviewed it. It does not copy Google's documentation. It teaches you how to choose and combine the tools, and Google's own pages tell you the details.
Google changes these products often. Names, plans, prices, AI features and screens can change from month to month. Here is a recent example: in July 2026 Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook. The product and its purpose stayed the same, but the name changed. This course uses the new name and gives the old one in brackets.
Rule for the whole course: if this course and Google's current help or pricing pages disagree, Google's current pages are the authority. Every lesson tells you when a feature depends on your plan. Level 2 covers plans and admin controls in detail.
Do this now: Bookmark Google's help centre (support.google.com). You will use it to check details as the course goes on.
The Six Jobs and Their Tools
Think of a well-organised workshop. You would not use a hammer to measure a plank. Each tool has one main job. Here is the map this course uses (checked November 2026):
| Job | Tool | Use it when... |
|---|---|---|
| Personal tasks | Google Tasks | Something must be done, ideally by a date. Tasks assigned to you in Chat spaces or Docs also appear here. |
| Quick notes | Google Keep | You need to capture an idea, a checklist or a snippet quickly. Labels sort your notes, and a note can grow into a Google Doc. |
| Research | Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) | You need answers based on your own sources (PDFs, Docs, Slides, websites, YouTube videos, audio), with citations you can check. |
| Team tracking | A Sheets table | Several people need a shared, structured list, such as a project tracker, an event plan or an inventory. |
| Team conversation | A Chat space | A group needs one ongoing place to discuss work and hand out shared tasks. |
| Automation | Google Workspace Studio | The same steps happen again and again, for example "when this kind of email arrives, do X". |
Plan note: Workspace Studio is a no-code tool for building AI agents that automate work across Workspace. It is aimed at work and school Google Workspace plans, and for personal accounts it is limited or unavailable. Some features in the other tools also depend on your plan, and your IT team may have switched some off. You will check what you have in Level 2.
Where Gemini Fits
Gemini is Google's AI. It is not a separate place to keep your work. It works inside the tools, and each tool uses it differently:
- Gemini Notebook: Gemini answers questions using only your uploaded sources, with in-line citations.
- Workspace Studio: Gemini lets you build an agent without code, and agents can include AI steps such as sorting or summarising.
- Sheets, Chat and the other apps: Gemini can help you organise, summarise or draft, depending on your plan.
How to check Gemini's output (use this every time):
- Check that facts, names, dates and numbers match the original.
- In Gemini Notebook, click the citations and read the source passage.
- Treat AI output as a first draft, not the final answer.
Which Gemini features you get depends on your plan. Level 2 covers this.
Task: Sort Ten of Your Own Work Items
This exercise makes the map personal. Allow about 15 minutes.
- Collect. Open your inbox, calendar, chats and any sticky notes. Write down ten recent work items in a plain list on paper or in a blank document. Do not open the Google tools yet.
- Ask the sorting questions for each item, in this order:
- Does it need to be done by me? → Tasks
- Is it something to remember or a rough idea? → Keep
- Do I need to understand or question a set of documents? → Gemini Notebook
- Do several people need to see its status in a shared list? → Sheets table
- Is it a group discussion or a task handed out to a group? → Chat space
- Will the same steps happen every week? → Automation (Workspace Studio)
- Label each item with one tool. If two seem to fit, choose the one that matches what you must do next.
- Count how many items each tool got.
Worked examples:
- "Send invoice to client by Friday" → Tasks (an action with a date)
- "Idea for the next newsletter" → Keep (capture now, develop later)
- "Compare three supplier contracts" → Gemini Notebook (questions about your own documents)
- "Status of the website launch tasks across four people" → Sheets table
- "Agree the launch date with the team" → Chat space
- "Every invoice email should become a task" → Automation
Keep your labelled list. You will use it in later levels.
Why One System, Not Every Tool
After the count, most people find that two or three tools cover most of their items. That is the point of this course: you build one personal system, not all of them.
Why this matters:
- Fewer places to check. Each extra tool is one more inbox to forget.
- Trust. A system works only if you know where everything is. Splitting the same kind of item across tools breaks that trust.
- Less upkeep. A small system is easier to review each week.
- Room to grow. Add a tool only when a real, repeated need appears. For example, add automation once you have done the same steps many times.
Do this now: Circle the two or three tools that got the most items. These are the core of your system. Treat the rest as optional.
Key Takeaways
- This course is independent of Google. Google's current pages are the authority on features, plans and prices.
- NotebookLM was renamed Gemini Notebook in July 2026, which shows how fast names change.
- Each job has its own tool: Tasks to act, Keep to capture, Gemini Notebook to research your own sources, Sheets tables to track a team, Chat spaces to talk as a team, Workspace Studio to automate.
- Gemini works inside each tool in a different way. Always check its output against the source.
- Some features depend on your plan or admin settings. You will check yours in Level 2.
- Build one small personal system and add tools only when a real need appears.