Sharing a Gemini Notebook with a client: the checklist
A Gemini Notebook is a handy way to give a client, a contractor or a new hire a Q&A over your documents. Before you share one, know what the people you share it with can reach. Google's help page says it plainly: viewers can read the sources, Chat View doesn't fully lock them away, and Allow copies starts on.
What you need
A Gemini Notebook you own
The email address of the person you're sharing with
What a viewer can reach
Every source and note you shared. Google: "A viewer has read-only access to all the source documents and notes you shared with them in the shared notebook."
Chat View isn't a lock. Google: "Chat View hides these materials for a focused experience, but it does not completely revoke a viewer's underlying access to the notebook contents. Viewers may still find ways to navigate to the hidden materials outside of the default chat experience."
A full copy, unless you untick it. Google Workspace Updates (17 Aug 2026): "Allowing others to copy notebooks is on by default." With copies allowed, "Users you've shared the notebook with can duplicate the notebook, including its sources and artifacts."
The checklist
Go through the sources one by one. Keep only what you'd send the client as an email attachment.
Put internal material (price workings, process notes, anything about other clients) in a separate notebook you don't share.
Share as Viewer, not Editor. Google: an editor "can view, add, or remove sources and notes in your shared notebook as well as share it further with other users."
Turn off copies: at the top, select Share, uncheck the box next to Allow copies, then select Save.
Remember what that doesn't stop. Google: with copies off, people "can still copy content in the notebook that they have access to."
The mistake to avoid
Sharing the "Copy link to chat view" link and treating it as a locked-down version. It hides the sources for a cleaner screen. It doesn't take away the viewer's access to them.
On a Google Workspace work account, sharing outside your company starts off: Google says "Users cannot share notebooks with anyone outside the domain. This is the default setting." Your admin can change it, so check with them before you share with a client.
Sources: Gemini Notebook Help, "Create a notebook in Gemini Notebook"; Google Workspace Updates, 17 Aug and 10 Sep 2026. Read 27 Oct 2026.