NotebookLM

Do this with it

• Long documents

  Redact first

  Turn a long document into a one-page brief

  15 minutes · Gives you short sections · Works on a phone

  Answer in [ANSWER LANGUAGE], even if the material below is in another language.
  
  Read the document below and write a brief for a colleague who has not read it.
  
  Rules:
  1. Use only what is in the document. Add nothing from your own knowledge. If you are not sure whether something is in it, leave it out.
  2. Every point must name the page, article or section it comes from.
  3. Quote the exact wording for anything that could be disputed.
  4. Copy every number and date in the digit form the document uses, and flag it where the document mixes digits: ١٢٣ alongside 123.
  5. Do not soften and do not dramatise.
  
  Give me, in this order:
  A. What this document is, in one sentence: who wrote it, when, and what it decides or reports.
  B. The ten most important points, one line each, each with its page or section. Carry every number, date and deadline inside the point it belongs to, each with its own page.
  C. What the document does NOT say that a reader would expect it to.
  D. Three questions this document leaves open.
  
  Document:
  [PASTE THE DOCUMENT]

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• Laws and gazettes

  Public material only

  Compare two versions of a law and list what changed

  30 minutes · Gives you a table

  Answer in [ANSWER LANGUAGE], even if the material below is in another language.
  
  Below are two versions of the same law, regulation or bill. Version 1 is the older one. Version 2 is the newer one.
  
  Rules:
  1. Compare them article by article. Quote the exact wording on both sides.
  2. Report only what changed. Do not summarise what stayed the same.
  3. Say what each change does in practice, in one plain sentence. No political comment.
  4. If an article was renumbered but its wording is the same, write RENUMBERED. Do not report it as removed.
  5. Article numbers may arrive in mixed digits: ١٢٣ alongside 123. Treat ١٢ and 12 as the same article.
  6. If a change is ambiguous, say so and give both readings. If neither version settles a point, write "the document does not say" instead of filling the gap.
  
  Give me, in this order:
  A. A table: article, wording in version 1, wording in version 2, what it changes in practice, who it affects.
  B. Articles removed or added. One line each, marked REMOVED or ADDED, with the article number and its subject.
  C. The three changes that most affect civil society organisations, and why.
  D. Anything you could not compare because the numbering differs.
  
  If you are reading on a phone, replace the table with one block per row: a heading line, then one short labelled line per column.
  
  Version 1:
  [PASTE THE OLDER VERSION]
  
  Version 2:
  [PASTE THE NEWER VERSION]

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• Grants and admin

  Redact first

  Check whether your organisation can apply

  20 minutes · Gives you a checklist · Works on a phone

  Answer in [ANSWER LANGUAGE], even if the material below is in another language.
  
  Below is a call for proposals, and then five facts about my organisation. Answer only from the call.
  
  Rules:
  1. For every answer, quote the clause you used and give its section number.
  2. If the call does not answer something, write "the call does not say". Never fill a gap with what is usual.
  3. If a clause turns on where we work or what we work on, do not guess. List it as a question for us to answer offline.
  4. Do not encourage or discourage me. Report what the document requires.
  5. Keep every date and figure exactly as the call writes it, including mixed digits: ١٢٣ alongside 123.
  
  Give me, in this order:
  A. Are we eligible: yes, no, or unclear, with the clause quoted for each requirement we meet or fail.
  B. Every deadline, with date, time and time zone as written, then a checklist of the required documents and annexes, one line each.
  C. Grounds for disqualification, and the budget rules that would change how we plan: co-financing, ineligible costs, ceilings, reporting.
  D. The questions we should send the donor, because the call does not answer them.
  
  The call:
  [PASTE THE CALL]
  
  My organisation, five facts and nothing more:
  Country of registration: [COUNTRY]
  Legal form: [LEGAL FORM AS IT IS WRITTEN ON OUR REGISTRATION]
  Years active: [UNDER 3 / 3 TO 10 / OVER 10]
  Last annual budget: [PICK ONE BAND, NOT THE FIGURE: UNDER 50,000 / 50,000 TO 250,000 / OVER 250,000, AND THE CURRENCY]
  External audit available: [YES OR NO]

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• Long documents

  Redact first

  Find the clause that answers your question

  10 minutes · Gives you short sections · Works on a phone

  Answer in [ANSWER LANGUAGE], even if the material below is in another language.
  
  You have one question and one long document. Find the clause that answers it.
  
  Rules:
  1. Use only the document below. Never answer from general knowledge about how such documents usually read.
  2. Quote, never paraphrase. Copy the clause word for word, with its number or heading as printed, including mixed digits: ١٢٣ alongside 123.
  3. If the document does not answer the question, write "The document does not answer this" and then give the nearest related clause, quoted.
  4. Search the whole document for anything that changes the answer: a definition, an exception, an annex, a later clause that overrides an earlier one.
  5. Mark anything you are unsure about with [CHECK] and say why in one line.
  
  Give me, in this order:
  A. The clause that answers my question, quoted in full, with its number.
  B. What it means in practice, in one plain sentence.
  C. Anything elsewhere in the document that limits it, extends it or contradicts it, each quoted with its number.
  D. Every [CHECK] you marked, one line each.
  
  My question:
  [WRITE YOUR QUESTION IN ONE SENTENCE]
  
  Document:
  [PASTE THE DOCUMENT]

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• Long documents

  Redact first

  Turn a long report into eight minutes for a board

  15 minutes · Gives you short sections · Works on a phone

  Answer in [ANSWER LANGUAGE], even if the material below is in another language.
  
  I have eight minutes on a board agenda. Read the report below and write what the board needs, not a summary of the report.
  
  Rules:
  1. Use only the report below. Add nothing from your own knowledge.
  2. Every point names the page it rests on. A point with no page is removed, not kept.
  3. Quote the report's own wording for anything a board member could dispute.
  4. Copy every figure exactly as printed, including mixed digits: ١٢٣ alongside 123.
  5. Do not soften and do not dramatise. Short sentences only.
  
  Give me, in this order:
  A. The three decisions this board must actually take, one line each, with the page each rests on and what happens if it is delayed.
  B. The two risks the report itself names, quoted, each with its page.
  C. What the report does not answer that a board will ask, as three questions.
  D. One slide of numbers: at most six figures, each with a label and its page.
  
  Report:
  [PASTE THE REPORT]

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• Grants and admin

  Redact first

  Answer the donor's questions from your own documents

  20 minutes · Gives you short sections · Works on a phone

  Answer in [ANSWER LANGUAGE], even if the material below is in another language.
  
  Below are a donor's clarification questions, then our own documents. Answer each question using only the documents.
  
  Rules:
  1. Answer one question at a time, in the donor's order and with the donor's own numbering.
  2. Under each answer, quote the one sentence from the documents that the answer rests on, and name the document and the page or section it came from.
  3. If the documents do not answer a question, write "our documents do not answer this" and stop. Never fill the gap with what is usual, and never combine two documents into a fact that neither of them states.
  4. If the documents answer only part of a question, say which part is answered and which part is not.
  5. Four sentences at most per answer. No apology, no promotional language.
  
  Give me, in this order:
  A. The answers, numbered as the donor numbered the questions, each one with its quoted sentence and its source.
  B. The questions marked "our documents do not answer this", and for each one, which document or figure would answer it, so I can attach it.
  C. Anything in my documents that contradicts another part of my documents, both sentences quoted, with no attempt to resolve it.
  
  The donor's questions:
  [PASTE THE DONOR'S QUESTIONS]
  
  Our documents:
  [PASTE THE DOCUMENTS, ONE AFTER ANOTHER, EACH WITH A TITLE LINE]

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