How to Edit NotebookLM Slides [September 2026]: Why You Can't Fix the Text Even in PPTX, and Five Methods by What You Need to Change

NotebookLM (renamed "Gemini Notebook" in July 2026) turns your sources into polished slides in a few minutes. But it won't let you make the small fixes: changing one sentence, swapping in one number. Even if you download it as PowerPoint, clicking a heading selects an image.

This article explains why, and sets out five methods you can choose from based on what you want to fix.

---

The short answer

---

Decide first: pick a method by what you want to fix

---

Why you can't edit them: each slide is one picture with text drawn in

NotebookLM's slides are drawn by the image-generation model Nano Banana Pro (per Google's official blog). Headings and body text are part of the picture, not text.

---

Method 1: Fix it with NotebookLM's Revise (official feature)

NotebookLM（現Gemini Notebook） | Tell it what to change, slide by slide, in plain words

When you open a slide deck, there is a Revise icon at the top. From there you write an instruction for each slide — "shorten the title", "move this diagram to the centre" — and apply them all at once. That is the official way to edit. The official help says you can try editing text, changing layouts and updating visuals.

1. Open the slide deck in Studio

   In the Studio panel, select the slide deck you made in NotebookLM.

2. Choose the Revise icon and write an instruction for each slide

   Select the slide you want to change and type your instruction into the input box. If you write instructions for several slides, they are grouped together as "Pending changes".

3. Generate the revision

   Once your instructions are in, select Generate revised deck. It takes a few minutes, but you can keep working in the notebook meanwhile.

Source: official demo from Google Workspace Updates (20 March 2026). Screens show the English UI before the rename (as does the one below)

In the official demo above, four changes — including an instruction to change the title of slide 9 — are applied together. The heading changed as instructed, but look at the deck's name. After revision, it is saved as a separate slide deck with "(2)" on the end.

How Revise works: every revision creates an entirely new deck

There are four things to know about Revise before you use it. All of them are in the official help.

Since 2 September 2026, limits have been compute-based: each generation uses up allowance according to how heavy it is. Batching everything you want to change into a single revision is also what the official help recommends.

What Revise is good at, and what it isn't

Revise works by "having the AI draw it again". That makes a clear split between what it suits and what it doesn't.

A write-up on Zenn that tested Revise also reported that instructions are sometimes applied in ways other than intended, and that for small text corrections, rebuilding the deck can be quicker. When you do use Revise, writing your instructions like this makes your intent easier to get across.

• Write both the before and after wording, in quotes (e.g. "Change the heading 'What our users say' to 'What our customers say'. Leave everything else unchanged.")
• Keep to one instruction per slide wherever possible
• For information that has to be exact — numbers, dates, company names — write the correct form directly into the instruction (Revise doesn't look at your sources)

---

Method 2: Cover it up in PowerPoint or Google Slides (no extra tools)

For a single typo or one out-of-date number, the most dependable fix is to lay a shape and a text box over the image. No extra tools and no AI — if you have PowerPoint, you can do it right now.

1. Download as PPTX

   From the slide deck's More menu, choose Download PowerPoint (.pptx).

2. Hide the text you want to change with a shape

   Insert a rectangle, pick its fill colour from the background with the eyedropper, set the outline to none, and place it over the text you want to change.

3. Add the correct text in a text box

   Put a text box on top of the shape and retype the text in a font, size and colour close to the original.

If you'd rather make the fix in Google Slides, upload the downloaded PPTX to Google Drive and open it in Google Slides; you can layer things on in exactly the same way (the slides are still images, though).

The weaknesses of this method are that patches show on gradient or patterned backgrounds, and that finding the same font as the original is hard. NotebookLM slides often have elaborate designs, so the more fixes you make, the more patched-together it looks. Beyond a few fixes, switching to Method 3 wins on both finish and effort.

Less retyping: pull out just the text with OCR

If you have long passages to retype, it's easier to extract the text first with OCR — which reads text from images — and paste it in. All of these are official features you can use for free.

Always proofread the extracted text for recognition errors. Numbers and proper nouns in particular are easy to misread, depending on the font used in the image.

---

Method 3: Convert back to a PPTX with editable text

You want to keep the design as it is, but change the wording in several places. The most direct answer to that is a tool that converts image slides into a PPTX with editable text. As it became widely known that NotebookLM slides are still images even as PPTX, a number of dedicated tools appeared.

They mostly work the same way.

Diagrams, photos and illustrations stay as images, and the text on top of them becomes editable

Source: conversion example on the Swift-Slide official site

Whichever tool you use, three cautions apply.

• Check for recognition errors. OCR isn't perfect. After converting, compare numbers, proper nouns and small text against the original slide
• Fonts are replaced with near matches. The font of text drawn into an image can't be reproduced exactly, so the look changes slightly. The range of Japanese fonts on offer varies by tool
• Decide whether the deck can leave your hands. Most tools upload your file to their servers for processing. If you're handling confidential material, check the retention period, whether it's used for AI training and where it's processed beforehand, and weigh that against your company's rules

The main conversion tools compared

Here are the main conversion tools aimed at NotebookLM slides, in alphabetical order by name. The last one, Canva, is not a dedicated conversion tool; it is listed alongside them as a design tool that has a feature for lifting text out of images. Prices are as shown on each official site as of September 2026; for dollar-priced plans, what you pay in yen depends on the exchange rate.

When choosing, narrow it down in this order and you won't go wrong.

1. Is the deck confidential? If it can't be sent outside, DeckEdit, which processes on your device, is the candidate. Even if it can, check the retention period and where it's processed
2. How many pages a month will you convert? For a handful of pages, each tool's free tier will do. For regular use, compare the price per page, and whether you're billed in yen or dollars
3. Are there tools for the finishing touches? Automatic conversion alone can leave text behind or erase too much. Whether you can fix things in the browser after conversion changes how much finishing work you're left with

CopySlides | A Chrome extension that exports straight from the NotebookLM screen

CopySlides is a conversion service run by AxisLab in Hong Kong. What sets it apart is that you can select slides and export them directly from a Chrome extension that works inside the NotebookLM screen, and there are also routes for converting from PDFs and videos. It uses Microsoft Azure AI Vision to read the text, and an AI model rebuilds the layout. Alongside monthly plans there are also one-off purchase plans. You can try it for free, but the limit isn't disclosed. For more, see the CopySlides product page.

DeckEdit | A free browser tool that converts entirely on your own device

DeckEdit is a free tool that does everything — reading the text, removing the background and assembling the PPTX — inside the browser. Files are never sent to a server and never leave your device, so you can handle material that can't go outside the company. No sign-up or login is needed, and there is no watermark and no limit on the number of conversions. One file can be up to 30MB and 50 pages, and it supports Japanese OCR and matching Japanese fonts. For more, see the DeckEdit product page.

Kirigami | Goes beyond text to vectorising shapes and splitting them into layers

Kirigami is a conversion service run by an individual developer in Japan. As well as outputting OCR-recognised text as text boxes, it is distinctive for vectorising shapes and splitting closely related elements into layers. You can feed in multi-page PDFs all at once and rebuild them slide by slide. It can also be called from a REST API, a CLI and MCP, which makes it an option when you want to build conversion into your own workflow. Pricing is credit-based: one image costs 10 credits, and a PDF costs 10 credits per page. For more, see the Kirigami product page.

NoteSlide | Rebuilds images and PDFs as native PowerPoint parts

NoteSlide is a conversion service from Codia Tech, LLC in the US. Its own vision AI distinguishes text, headings, bullet lists, tables, shapes and images, and rebuilds them as native PowerPoint elements. It recognises 109 languages, including Japanese, and there is a Japanese-language site too. The exported PPTX opens as-is in PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides. Pricing is credit-based, and each exported slide uses one credit. Besides conversion, it also has features for generating slides and for redesigning them. For more, see the NoteSlide product page.

Swift-Slide | A Japan-based conversion service that lets you do the finishing touches in the browser

Swift-Slide is a conversion service officially launched in September 2026 by Swift-Triad LLC, based in Tokyo. Besides NotebookLM slides and infographics, it handles PDFs whose original PowerPoint no longer exists, scanned paper documents and images of flyers. As in the images above, a converted slide can be fixed right there in the browser. There is an eraser that repaints the background where you trace over leftover text, a feature that restores diagrams or logos that were erased by mistake by cutting them out of the pre-conversion image, and a feature that separates illustrations and diagrams from the background so you can move them; it exports to four formats: PPTX, PDF, PNG and JPEG. Pricing is by the number of pages, and you can buy just an add-on pack of 10 pages for ¥400 (incl. tax) without a monthly subscription. For more, see the Swift-Slide product page.

Canva | For now, not much help with Japanese slides

You'll sometimes see it said that importing into Canva makes the slides editable, but for NotebookLM slides in Japanese, as of September 2026 it most likely won't work as you'd hope. Canva's official help shows constraints on all three of the relevant features.

Canva is a strong option for the "rebuild" approach in Method 5. For fixing NotebookLM slides as they are, check the constraints above before you try it.

Converting with the OCR in PDF editors

PDF editors such as Adobe Acrobat can also convert PDFs to PowerPoint. According to Adobe's official page, when you export a PDF containing scanned text, text recognition runs automatically. However, the OCR feature that makes scanned documents editable is included only in Acrobat Pro (¥2,530/month) and Studio (¥3,300/month), not in Standard (¥1,980/month) (all individual annual plans paid monthly, incl. tax). The official page also says nothing about whether the original text is removed from the background image.

If you already subscribe to Acrobat Pro, it's worth a try. But for designs like NotebookLM slides, where text and background are fused together, the dedicated tools above are a better fit, since they are built to include the "remove the text and restore the background" step.

Having an AI agent do the conversion (open source)

On GitHub, skills that have a coding agent rebuild image slides into a PPTX have been published. The best-known one targets OpenAI's Codex, is MIT-licensed and has over 2,600 stars (as of September 2026). It rebuilds one page at a time on this principle: text it can read becomes text boxes, simple shapes become PowerPoint shapes, and complex figures go back as images with a record of where they came from.

If you want everything to stay on your own machine, there are implementations that run OCR, background repair, font estimation and PPTX assembly entirely locally. Some unofficial tools released by Japanese developers take this form too, which makes them an option when you're handling material that can't go outside the company.

Procedures for achieving the same thing with a prompt are also widely shared on social media, and many Japanese how-to articles are based on this approach. Even when you write your own prompt and try it, building in a step where you turn the exported PPTX back into images and compare them with the original slides will let you catch anything that has broken.

---

Method 4: Redraw the text while keeping it an image

Nano Banana | Rewrite the text inside the image in the Gemini app

Another approach is to leave the slide as an image and just have the drawn text rewritten. This uses Nano Banana, an image generation model from the same family as the one that draws NotebookLM's slides.

All you do is save the slide as an image (PNG or similar), upload it to the Gemini app and give an instruction such as "Change the heading 'XX' to 'YY'. Don't change anything else." The Gemini app's default image model is Nano Banana 2, and on a paid plan you can also regenerate with Nano Banana Pro. Both are promoted as being strong at rendering text accurately inside images and at translating text.

This method has its limits, though.

• The result is still an image. If you want to change it again, you have to repeat the same process
• Text accuracy isn't guaranteed. Google itself advises always checking generated images for accuracy, including any text in them, and states that spelling or grammar can be wrong. There is no official word on the quality of Japanese text
• Parts you didn't mention may change. Since the image is being redrawn, fine details of the graphics or the colours may shift

It suits fixes to one or two slides where the look matters most, such as swapping a phrase on a cover or title slide, or trying out a Japanese version of an English slide.

---

Method 5: Rebuild it as an editable deck from the start

For decks you'll keep updating, or ones that need to sit on your company template, using NotebookLM only to pin down the content and rebuilding the slides with a tool that outputs editable decks is the least work in the long run.

Here's one way to go about it.

1. In NotebookLM's chat, have it draft a slide outline from your sources (a heading and key points for each slide)
2. Check the citations and correct any numbers or proper nouns
3. Paste the outline into a slide generation tool and generate an editable deck
4. After generation, edit text and graphics freely in PowerPoint or the tool's own editor

You won't get the elaborate look of NotebookLM's slide decks, but you get text, tables and charts that are editable from the start.

GAMMA | Paste in text and get slides you can export to PPTX

GAMMA is a service where AI builds slides, design included, from ideas, outlines or existing documents. It exports to PDF, PNG and PowerPoint (PPTX), and tables come out as editable tables. Files exported on the free plan carry a "Made by Gamma" badge, which paid plans let you remove. For details, see the GAMMA product page.

イルシル | Irusiru: rebuild with templates made for Japanese business documents

Irusiru is a slide generation service for Japanese business documents, with more than 3,000 Japanese-language templates. You can export to PPTX and edit in PowerPoint; text, tables, charts and shapes come out editable (illustrations, icons and backgrounds are images). Export to PowerPoint and PDF is a paid-plan feature (from Personal at ¥1,848/month incl. tax). For details, see the Irusiru product page.

Genspark AI | Hand off everything from research to slides

Genspark AI is an AI workspace where agents produce finished deliverables such as slides, sheets and documents, so you can hand off everything from the research through to turning it into slides. Export to PowerPoint (.pptx) is a paid membership feature, and complex tables and charts are converted into images or shapes on export. For details, see the Genspark AI product page.

Beyond these, Canva lets you download presentations as PPTX, and Manus states in its official documentation that it can output PPTX files that are fully editable in PowerPoint and Google Slides. Google itself announced a feature for generating editable presentations inside Google Slides in June 2026, but at launch it was available in English (US) only, and it isn't a NotebookLM feature.

---

The five methods compared

---

Before you generate: make slides that are easier to fix

You can cut a lot of the editing work at the generation stage. Following the official generation options, keep these points in mind.

• Get numbers, dates and company names right in the sources. Revise doesn't consult your sources, so correcting errors in the sources before you generate is the reliable approach
• Put wording you can't compromise on into the prompt. Before generating, you can click the pencil icon and, in the "Describe the slide deck you want to create" box, write the title, official product names and the terms you want used
• For less text, choose Presenter Slides. You can choose between Detailed Deck, which includes the full text and details, and Presenter Slides, which present the key points visually. The less text there is, the fewer misreadings and fixes you'll have
• Specify the language and length. You can choose the output language and the length (short, default or long). For a Japanese deck, setting the language explicitly stops English from creeping in

---

FAQ

---

Summary

Information in this article is based on what Google had published in its official help, official blog and Google Workspace Updates, and on each tool's official site, as of 22 September 2026. Check each official site for the latest specifications and pricing.