How to Bulk Import URLs and Tabs to NotebookLM at Once

TL;DR: You can bulk import URLs and all your open tabs into NotebookLM in a single action using Kaptex — paste a newline-separated list of URLs into the side panel, or sweep every open tab at once, without leaving your current tab.

Why adding multiple sources to NotebookLM one at a time doesn't scale

You've just spent an hour in a research session. You have 20+ tabs open — articles, papers, YouTube videos, Reddit threads. The standard workflow to get them into NotebookLM: go through each tab, copy the URL, switch to NotebookLM, find the right notebook, add the source, switch back. Repeat 20 times. That's 5+ minutes of mechanical work after your actual research is already done.

The friction isn't just the time. Every context switch interrupts whatever thought you were holding. You lose track of which tabs you've already added. You re-pick your notebook on the third save because you accidentally closed the tab. The logistics start eating into the research itself.

The worst version of this is when you get to the end of a research session, look at 25 open tabs, and decide it's not worth it. You close the laptop and those tabs are gone forever — the articles you skimmed, the video you bookmarked, the Reddit thread you wanted to revisit. All of it lost because the import process was too slow to bother.

How to bulk import URLs to NotebookLM

Kaptex lets you add multiple URLs to a NotebookLM notebook in a single action — either by pasting a list directly, or by sweeping all your open tabs at once.

Step 1: Install Kaptex and select your notebook

Install Kaptex from the Chrome Web Store and open the side panel. Select the notebook you want to save sources to.

The side panel stays open as you move between tabs — your notebook selection doesn't reset, so you only need to choose it once per session.

Step 2: Paste your list of URLs into the bulk import field

In the side panel, open the bulk import field. Paste your URLs as a newline-separated list — one URL per line.

You can mix URLs from any source type that NotebookLM supports: articles, YouTube videos, Reddit threads, PDFs, anything.

This is useful when you've been collecting links throughout a session — bookmarks, copy-pasted URLs, links from search results — and want to send them all at once instead of one by one.

Step 3: Review and send

Check over the list — remove anything you don't want — then click to send.

Kaptex submits each URL to your selected notebook as a separate source. You stay on your current tab the entire time.

Step 4: Tab sweep — import all your open tabs at once

If you're at the end of a research session with a browser full of tabs, tab sweep is faster than pasting a list.

Click "Import open tabs" in the side panel.

Kaptex shows you all currently open tabs and lets you select which ones to include — uncheck anything irrelevant, then send the rest to your notebook in one action.

This is the fastest way to capture an entire research session. Every tab you had open ends up as a source in NotebookLM, without copying a single URL.

Wrap-up

Bulk import and tab sweep are both about the same thing: not losing your research to friction at the end of a session. Whether you have a list of URLs you've been collecting or 25 browser tabs you want to capture, you can dump everything into a NotebookLM notebook in one action and organize it there — you don't need to do the organizing before the import.

This is especially useful for end-of-session capture. When you're done researching, just open the side panel, sweep your tabs, and close the browser. Everything is in NotebookLM waiting for you.

You can try it free at kaptex.io — 10 saves per day on the free plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many URLs can I paste at once?

There's no hard cap on the number of URLs you can paste into the bulk import field. In practice, very large batches may take a moment to process, but there's no limit that would block a typical end-of-session import.

What happens if one of the URLs fails?

If a URL fails — because the page is paywalled, unavailable, or unsupported by NotebookLM — the other URLs in the batch still go through. Failures are reported individually so you can see which ones didn't make it and retry if needed.

Does tab sweep include tabs from all windows or just the current one?

Tab sweep imports tabs from your current browser window. If you have research spread across multiple windows, open Kaptex in each window and run the sweep separately.

Does it work with YouTube and Reddit URLs?

Yes. NotebookLM supports YouTube videos (via transcript) and web pages including Reddit threads as source types. You can paste those URLs into the bulk import field the same as any other URL — Kaptex sends them to NotebookLM and NotebookLM handles the processing.

Do I need to be on a specific tab to use bulk import or tab sweep?

No. The Kaptex side panel stays open across all tabs, so you can trigger a bulk import or tab sweep from wherever you are. You don't need to navigate to a specific page first.