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12/28/2025

Combining Google NotebookLM’s Slide Deck with Google Slides and Google Vids: A Fast, Powerful New Workflow for Genealogists

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Combining Google NotebookLM’s Slide Deck with Google Slides and Google Vids: A Fast, Powerful New Workflow for Genealogists

Every once in a while, a new tech discovery comes along that changes the way we share our family history—instantly, unexpectedly, and in the best way possible. The day the Slide Deck feature came out was one of those days.

Google NotebookLM quietly rolled out two new features: Infographic and Slide Deck. After spending most of that morning testing them (using my 2nd great-grandfather, Samuel Steinman, as my official “AI ancestor tester”), I was already impressed with what they could produce. Then, something even more exciting happened: I discovered a simple workflow that turns those auto-generated Slide Decks into fully narrated videos within minutes—and all for free.

This combination of tools opens a brand-new door for genealogists who want to share family histories creatively, quickly, and beautifully. Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Generate a Slide Deck in Google NotebookLM

The new Slide Deck option in NotebookLM creates a clean, nicely structured presentation directly from your notebook content. In my test case, I used a notebook full of research notes and analysis on my 2nd great-grandfather, Samuel Steinman, and the resulting deck provided:

Sectioned slides
Summaries of key points
Biographical snapshots
Quick visuals and layouts

The only limitation? NotebookLM currently only allows a PDF download of the slides.

NotebookLM to Instant Videos with Vids, Example 1

Step 2: Save Each Slide's PNG for Flexibility

To make the slides editable and usable across multiple platforms, I saved each slide of the slide deck's PNG images (you can also save each slide of the PDF as an individual PNG image). This only takes a moment, and once done, you’re free to:

Edit them
Reorder them
Add branding
Insert additional images
Prepare them for use in other media

This small step unlocks everything that comes next.

NotebookLM to Instant Videos with Vids- PDF or PNGs

Download the PDF of the slide deck and convert them to images, or expand the slide deck and save each PNG image from the slide deck itself, as seen above and below.

NotebookLM to Instant Videos with Vids- Expanded Slide Deck View

Step 3: Import the PNG Slides into Google Slides

Once the images were ready, I uploaded them into a blank Google Slides presentation—one image per slide. This creates a clean, ready-to-use slide show version of your NotebookLM Slide Deck.
This step is fast, and it sets up the real magic that follows.

NotebookLM to Instant Videos with Vids- Importing NLM Slide Decks to Google Slides

Step 4: Pull Your Google Slides into Google Vids

This is the part that surprised me.
Google Vids now allows you to import your Google Slides directly—and once you do, it automatically builds a complete narrated video from your slides in a matter of seconds.
The results include:

Auto-generated narration
Transitions
Timing
Background music (optional)
A ready-to-download video file

And best of all? It’s completely free.
In under a minute, my Slide Deck on Samuel Steinman transformed into a polished ancestor video—without any editing, recording, or design work on my end.

NotebookLM to Instant Videos with Vids- Coverting NLM Slide Decks in Google Vids

NotebookLM to Instant Videos with Vids- Outcome of Google Vids Automatically Coverting Google Slides

NotebookLM to Instant Videos with Vids- Final Video Product

Why This Workflow Is a Game-Changer for Genealogy

This simple chain--NotebookLM Slide Deck → PNG Slides → Google Slides → Google Vids—opens a fast, low-effort way to produce beautiful, engaging family history content.
Genealogists can now create:

Mini-biographies
Quick client summaries
Family history “trailers”
Social media videos
Narrative-style research updates
Memorial or celebration videos
Storytelling pieces for relatives

All within minutes.
For professionals, it can add a polished, optional supplement to project deliverables (with a note about citation limitations, of course). For hobbyists, it makes sharing family stories with relatives easier and more exciting than ever.

Final Thoughts

That day of discovery felt like stumbling into an entire new genealogy storytelling toolset. The automation, speed, and quality make this workflow truly stand out—and I can already see endless uses for it in family history work.

If you haven’t explored these new features yet, I highly recommend giving them a try. The possibilities are incredible, and you may find, like I did, that a simple test becomes an entirely new way of bringing your ancestors to life.

Try NotebookLM

Try Vids

More AI and Genealogy

Learn about more AI in Genealogy updates, tips, and resources, along with other family history and genealogy resources under the AI in Genealogy and Genealogy Resources categories and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.

#Genealogy #FamilyHistory #AIinGenealogy #GoogleNotebookLM #GenealogyTech #GenealogyTools #GenealogyInnovation

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12/20/2025

Ancestry Expands Its AI Record Explore Feature: Introducing Listen and Explore (Beta)

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Screenshot of Ancestry's New AI Listen and Explore Record Feature

Ancestry Expands AI Record Explore with New “Listen and Explore” Feature (Beta)

Back in April of 2024, I introduced Ancestry’s first major step into AI-powered record interpretation in my blog post, Ancestry’s New AI Record Explore Feature! At the time, the feature provided AI-generated summaries of individual records—an exciting development that helped genealogists better understand what a record contained and how their ancestor appeared within it.

Fast forward to now, and Ancestry has taken that concept several steps further with a new, expanded beta feature: Listen and Explore. This enhancement builds on the original AI Record Explore tool by transforming static records into richer, more contextual narratives about our ancestors’ lives.

I recently tested this new feature using my 2nd great-grandfather, Samuel Steinman, and his 1920 U.S. census record, and the results were genuinely impressive.

Ancestry AI Listen and Explore Record Feature- Example

What Stays the Same: AI Record Summaries

At its core, the feature still includes an AI-generated summary of the record, clearly explaining:

What the record is
Who your ancestor is within that record
Key details pulled directly from the document

This remains a helpful starting point, especially for newer genealogists or anyone reviewing familiar records with fresh eyes.

Ancestry AI Listen and Explore Record Feature- Example 1, Summary

What’s New: “Listen to Their Story”

The biggest enhancement is the addition of a “Listen to their story” option.
This feature expands well beyond a simple summary and provides a narrative-style explanation that includes:

What the census reveals about your ancestor and their household
Interpretations of what those details most likely meant for the individual and their family
Broader historical context about the time period and location

In short, it helps bridge the gap between raw data and lived experience.

Even better, this narrative is downloadable, making it especially useful for:

Family history writing
Client reports
Presentations
Sharing with relatives who may not be genealogists

This is a huge step toward making genealogy more accessible and story-driven.

Ancestry AI Listen and Explore Record Feature- Example 2, Listen to Their Story

“Explore What Shaped Their Life”: A Dynamic Research Companion

Another standout addition is the “Explore what shaped their life” section.

Using Samuel Steinman’s 1920 census record, Ancestry presented me with four thematic topics to explore further. What was particularly interesting is that these options changed each time I revisited the feature, offering new angles and research prompts.

Some of the topics I was offered included:

Ohio birthplace significance – exploring migration patterns and regional connections
Occupation in butcher shops – understanding the role of butcher shops in local economies
German immigrant heritage – examining the impact of German immigrants in America
Homeownership in 1920s Missouri – looking at economic conditions affecting homeownership

This rotating selection encourages deeper thinking and prevents the experience from feeling repetitive.

Ancestry AI Listen and Explore Record Feature- Example 3, Explore What Shaped Their Life

Ancestry AI Listen and Explore Record Feature- Example 3, Explore What Shaped Their Life 1

Ancestry AI Listen and Explore Record Feature- Example 3, Explore What Shaped Their Life 2

Ancestry AI Listen and Explore Record Feature- Example 3, Explore What Shaped Their Life 3

Footnotes, Sources, and a Very Pleasant Surprise

Clicking on Occupation in butcher shops (in two slightly different versions) produced two similar but not identical explorations—and both included footnotes at the bottom.

This is where the feature really shines.

In the first version, the cited sources included:

The 1920 census record I had selected
My ancestor’s entire Ancestry profile

What excited me most was that the AI didn’t rely only on the single census page I clicked. It incorporated information from other records and research I had already attached to Samuel Steinman’s profile, creating a more accurate and well-rounded interpretation.

In the second version, the sources included:

The 1920 census
A published historical work: The Great Depression: Delayed Recovery and Economic Change in America, 1929–1939 by Michael A. Bernstein

This combination—using my own research alongside reputable historical sources—is something many AI tools still fail to do well. Seeing transparent sourcing and footnotes is a huge win for genealogists who care about accuracy, context, and citation.

Each exploration also includes a copy function, making it easy to save, reuse, or adapt the content.

The Drawback: Speed

As exciting as this feature is, it does come with one notable drawback: it is slow.

Clicking on “Listen and Explore” can take a significant amount of time to load. In some cases, the delay is long enough that users may assume the feature isn’t working at all, as I did at first, and navigate away.

This may be a beta-stage issue, and while understandable, it’s worth noting so users know to be patient while the AI processes the request.

Final Thoughts

Ancestry’s Listen and Explore feature is a meaningful evolution in how genealogists interact with records. Rather than simply extracting facts, this tool helps:

Interpret records in historical context
Encourage new research questions
Integrate existing research into AI-generated insights
Move genealogy closer to storytelling—without losing sight of sources

While the speed needs improvement, the overall direction is incredibly promising. If this is what Ancestry is offering in beta, the future of AI-assisted genealogy looks both powerful and responsible.

If you haven’t explored this feature yet, it’s well worth your time—just be sure to give it a moment to work.

More Ancestry and Genealogy Resources

Learn about more Ancestry updates, tips, tools, and features and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.

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12/14/2025

2025 Genealogy Wish Grants Winner!

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2025 Genealogy Wish Grants Winner!

The winner of the 2025 Genealogy Wish Grants Program has officially been selected!
Please join me in congratulating Kathy Rood from Arkansas, this year’s recipient, for her compelling, heartfelt, and long-standing genealogy mystery.

About This Year’s Winner

Kathy Rood has been researching her family history since the late 1990s and has been a loyal follower of Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family for over two and a half years. Like many genealogists who begin with limited family information and early loss, Kathy’s journey into genealogy was shaped by missing voices, unanswered questions, and a deep desire to understand who came before her.

Her initial spark began with a simple but meaningful artifact — the Baby Book her mother kept, which included a small family tree. That single page became the starting point of decades of research, discovery, and determination. With both parents and grandparents passing before she had the chance to ask questions, Kathy relied on her sister, cousins, and records to piece together her family’s story.

Over the years, she has overcome challenges many genealogists know all too well — incorrect names, nicknames mistaken for given names, and incomplete information — slowly building her tree while facing one particularly stubborn brick wall.

A Tough Choice, Once Again

Choosing a winner is never easy, and this year was no exception. There were multiple thoughtful and meaningful entries, each with deserving stories and worthy goals. Ultimately, Kathy’s entry stood out for its clear focus and compelling backstory, along with the broader impact her research could have on an entire extended family.

Her story reflects decades of persistence, careful research, and respect for the sacrifices made by immigrant ancestors — all while acknowledging the frustration of working with common Irish surnames and limited records.

This Year’s Winning Story
Kathy’s wish centers on her maternal 2nd great-grandparents, James McCabe Sr. and Ann(e) Duffy, Irish immigrants whose origins remain unknown.
What is known:

Both James and Ann(e) were born in Ireland, possibly County Longford
Their first child was born in New York City in 1835
They later settled in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Together, they had 11 children

What remains elusive is where they came from in Ireland, who their parents were, and whether they had siblings — a challenge compounded by extremely common Irish names and a lack of definitive records.

Kathy shared that without breaking through this brick wall, generations of McCabe and Duffy descendants have been unable to trace their family further back. Her wish is not just personal — it’s about honoring her ancestors’ immigration story and preserving that history for the many descendants who came after them.

Looking Ahead

As the 2025 Genealogy Wish Grants winner, Kathy will receive up to 10 hours of genealogy research focused on her McCabe and Duffy brick wall. While genealogy always carries the possibility of inconclusive findings, the goal is to uncover new clues, evaluate existing evidence, and move her family story forward as far as the records allow.

I’m truly looking forward to working with Kathy and seeing where this research journey leads.

Thank You

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who applied for the 2025 Genealogy Wish Grants Program. I’m continually honored by the trust you place in me when sharing your stories, your mysteries, and your hopes.

If you didn’t win this year, please don’t be discouraged — I hope you’ll continue to follow, participate, and apply again. Details for Genealogy Wish Grants 2026 will be announced in the coming year on my Facebook Page, Facebook Group, blog, and the Genealogy Wish Grants Program page.

Stay tuned — and congratulations again to Kathy!

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12/7/2025

Exploring Google NotebookLM’s New Infographic and Slide Deck Features for Genealogy

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Exploring Google NotebookLM’s New Infographic and Slide Deck Features for Genealogy

Google NotebookLM has been rolling out new tools rapidly over the past year, but a couple of weeks ago brought one of the most exciting updates yet: two brand-new features designed to turn your research into highly engaging visuals--Infographic and Slide Deck. These were not available even a day before when I generated a family history narrative for a client. Naturally, I had to test them right away.

To get a clear picture of what these tools can do, I used my long-running Steinman Family Notebook. This notebook focuses on my second great-grandfather, Samuel Steinman, his wife, their children, and brief notes on early descendants. It includes research, notes, sources, timelines, context, and more, and I have used it as my controlled “tester ancestor” since last May to evaluate various AI features.

These two new tools did not disappoint. In fact, they may be the most exciting additions to NotebookLM so far—especially for those of us who want to make family history more accessible and appealing to relatives who tend to “glaze over” when reading long narratives.

The Infographic Feature: A Family Story in One Visual

The new Infographic feature generated a clean, concise, and eye-catching summary of the Steinman family. It captured the major life events, relationships, and themes in a single, well-organized layout.

What stood out most was how accurately it distilled the family’s history. In one view, it presented key milestones, family dynamics, and important historical context—exactly the kind of visual summary that can help non-genealogists understand a family story in seconds.

There were two small hiccups worth noting:

One section showed a tiny image of a man sick in bed, even though it was describing one of the daughters—an image-to-text mismatch.
Another section used a Catholic symbol placed on a newspaper graphic when describing a death. The Steinmans were not Catholic, so the symbolism felt out of place.

These minor inconsistencies didn’t detract from the overall usefulness of the infographic. For quick summaries, family sharing, or visual storytelling, this new feature is incredibly promising.

The Steinman Family American Story- NotebookLM Infographic Day 1 Test, November 22, 2025

The Slide Deck Feature: A Full Visual Presentation of Family History

Next, I tested the brand-new Slide Deck feature. This one truly impressed me.

NotebookLM automatically created a multi-slide presentation--15 slides in total—based on the Steinman Notebook. Each slide focused on a different piece of the family’s story, turning the narrative into an easy-to-follow visual journey. The slides included:

An overview of the family
Individual slides for each major family member
Context on their community
Key events, milestones, and life transitions
Tragedies and hardships that shaped the family
Broader social and historical background

Each slide felt like a standalone infographic, which made the entire deck engaging and easy to read. I could immediately imagine relatives finally showing interest because of how approachable and visual this format is.

There was only one noticeable hiccup: one slide stated that all five children survived to adulthood while also noting that one child died in infancy. A simple contradiction, but the only one across the entire deck.

Even so, the overall quality was excellent. This feature has incredible potential for storytellers, genealogists, family historians, and anyone trying to present complicated information in a way people will actually want to look at.

Why These New Tools Are Game-Changers for Genealogy

Both of these features point toward an emerging trend: AI tools are becoming more visually oriented and more capable of transforming dense research into formats that connect with modern readers.

For genealogists, this means:

Easier ways to share research with family
Visual tools for presentations and workshops
Simple summaries for clients
A new approach to preserving and teaching family history

Best of all, these tools work instantly, and they draw on the information already in your NotebookLM collections. That means you can generate multiple visual formats from the same research without starting from scratch.

As more families lean toward quick, visual content, these features offer a meaningful way to bridge the gap between our research and the people we want to reach.

More AI and Genealogy

#Genealogy #FamilyHistory #AIinGenealogy #GoogleNotebookLM #GenealogyTech #GenealogyTools #GenealogyInnovation

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know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family:

Family History and Genealogy Blog

Tips, Resources, and Research Strategies

Combining Google NotebookLM’s Slide Deck with Google Slides and Google Vids: A Fast, Powerful New Workflow for Genealogists

Step 1: Generate a Slide Deck in Google NotebookLM

Step 2: Save Each Slide's PNG for Flexibility

Step 3: Import the PNG Slides into Google Slides

Step 4: Pull Your Google Slides into Google Vids

Why This Workflow Is a Game-Changer for Genealogy

Final Thoughts

​More AI Videos

​More AI and Genealogy

Ancestry Expands Its AI Record Explore Feature: Introducing Listen and Explore (Beta)

What Stays the Same: AI Record Summaries

What’s New: “Listen to Their Story”

“Explore What Shaped Their Life”: A Dynamic Research Companion

Footnotes, Sources, and a Very Pleasant Surprise

The Drawback: Speed

Final Thoughts

​More Ancestry and Genealogy Resources

2025 Genealogy Wish Grants Winner!

2025 Genealogy Wish Grants Winner!​

About This Year’s Winner

A Tough Choice, Once Again

Looking Ahead

Thank You

Exploring Google NotebookLM’s New Infographic and Slide Deck Features for Genealogy

The Infographic Feature: A Family Story in One Visual

The Slide Deck Feature: A Full Visual Presentation of Family History

Why These New Tools Are Game-Changers for Genealogy

More AI and Genealogy ​

Author, Diane Henriks

Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family: Family History and Genealogy Blog

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