Can NotebookLM analyze spreadsheets?

NotebookLM can read Google Sheets linked as a source and CSV files uploaded as text. It imports cell data as plain text and lets you ask questions like "What patterns do you see in this data?" or "Summarize the key figures from this table."

However, it cannot execute formulas, run calculations, sort data, or generate charts. It treats spreadsheet data as a document to read, not a dataset to compute. For complex sheets with multiple tabs, exporting to CSV first often produces cleaner imports than linking Google Sheets directly. For real data analysis — statistics, pivot tables, forecasts — use Python, Excel, or ChatGPT with Code Interpreter. NotebookLM works best for synthesizing the narrative around the numbers, not generating the numbers themselves.