Right-Click to Add Any Web Page to NotebookLM

The fastest way to add a web page to NotebookLM is one you probably use hundreds of times a day already — a right-click.

When you're deep in a research session, switching between reading and tool management kills your momentum. Opening the extension, navigating to the import screen, pasting a URL — these extra steps feel small individually, but they accumulate. Over a full research session, the friction adds up to real lost time.

The context menu integration in NotebookLM Tools removes that friction entirely. Right-click on any web page, select the action you want, and the source is added to NotebookLM. No tab switching, no UI navigation, no interruption.

Why Right-Click Import Changes Your Workflow

Traditional source capture follows a multi-step pattern: find something useful, stop reading, open a tool, perform the import action, return to reading. Each import creates a small context switch — and context switches are expensive for focused work.

Right-click import collapses those steps into a single gesture. The key benefit is staying in reading mode. You never leave the page you're on. You never shift your attention from the content to the tool. You capture the source at the exact moment it feels relevant, then keep reading.

Over time, this changes how you research. You become more willing to capture sources that are "probably useful" rather than only saving the ones that are "definitely important." This broader capture means fewer missed references, better coverage of your topic, and a richer notebook for NotebookLM's AI to work with.

The 8 Right-Click Context Menu Actions

NotebookLM Tools adds eight distinct actions to your browser's right-click context menu. Each one is designed for a specific capture scenario you encounter while browsing.

1. Add Current Page as Source

Right-click anywhere on a web page and select this option to import the full page content as a new source in your active NotebookLM notebook.

This is the most commonly used action — the one-click equivalent of copying the URL, opening NotebookLM, and pasting it into the source import dialog.

2. Add Link as Source

When you right-click on a hyperlink (not the page itself), you can import the linked page as a source without even opening it first. This is especially useful when scanning a reference list, a search results page, or a bibliography.

You see a promising link, right-click it, and add it — all without navigating away from your current page.

3. Add Selected Text as Source

Highlight a specific passage on a page, right-click, and add just that selected text as a source. This is useful when a page contains a mix of relevant and irrelevant content and you only want to capture a specific section.

4. Add Image as Source

Right-click on an image to add it as a source. This works for diagrams, charts, infographics, and other visual content that you want NotebookLM to analyze.

5. Add Page as Website URL

Instead of extracting the page content, this option saves the raw URL as a website source. NotebookLM will fetch and process the content on its own. This is useful when you want NotebookLM's native parser to handle the content rather than the extension's extraction.

6. Add All Links from Page

This action scans the current page, extracts all links, and lets you select which ones to import as sources. It's powerful for pages like course syllabi, reading lists, curated collections, or resource directories where you want to import multiple linked references at once.

7. Add to Specific Notebook

By default, sources are added to your currently active notebook. This action lets you choose a different target notebook, which is useful when you maintain multiple research projects simultaneously.

8. Quick Add (Skip Confirmation)

For maximum speed, the quick add option imports the current page immediately without showing a confirmation dialog. One click and it's done.

How to Set Up Right-Click Import

Step 1: Install NotebookLM Tools

Install the NotebookLM Tools extension from the Chrome Web Store. It works on Chrome, Edge, Brave, and other Chromium browsers.

Step 2: Verify Context Menu Access

After installation, navigate to any web page, right-click, and look for the NotebookLM Tools entry in the context menu. The menu actions should appear automatically — no additional configuration needed.

Step 3: Set Your Default Notebook

Open NotebookLM and select the notebook you want to use as your import target. New sources added via right-click will go to this notebook by default.

Step 4: Start Capturing

Browse normally. When you find something worth saving, right-click and select the appropriate action. That's all there is to it.

Workflow Integration Tips

Batch your organization. Right-click import is designed for speed, not organization. Capture sources freely while browsing, then periodically organize them into source folders when you're ready to shift from discovery mode to analysis mode.

Use "Add Link" on search results. When searching Google Scholar, PubMed, or any other index, you can right-click result links to add them without opening each one individually. This turns a search session into a batch import session.

Pair with saved prompts. After importing several sources during a browsing session, switch to NotebookLM and use saved prompts to quickly analyze the new material. This creates a fast capture-then-analyze cycle.

Check source freshness later. Web pages change over time. After importing, you can use source freshness checking to ensure your captured sources stay current.

Combine with bulk tab import. If you've opened many tabs during a research session, you can also use the bulk tab import feature to capture everything at once — right-click for individual pages, tab import for bulk capture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do right-click imports work on every website?

Right-click import works on most public web pages. Some sites with strict content security policies or paywalled content may limit what can be extracted. In those cases, you can use the "Add as Website URL" option to let NotebookLM handle the content fetch directly.

Can I right-click import PDFs?

If a PDF is displayed in your browser, you can right-click the page and import it. For local PDF files, use NotebookLM's native file upload or the manual import option in the extension.

Does right-click import work with Google Docs?

For Google Docs and other Google Workspace files, it's better to add them through NotebookLM's native Google Drive integration, which maintains the live connection between the document and the source.

Can I undo an import?

Sources added to NotebookLM can be deleted from the source panel at any time. If you accidentally import the wrong page, simply remove it from your source list.

Make Every Right-Click Count

The best research tools are invisible — they fit into your existing habits rather than demanding new ones. Right-click import turns the browser gesture you already use constantly into a direct pipeline to NotebookLM.

Install NotebookLM Tools and start capturing sources the moment they catch your attention. Check out the full features page to see everything the extension offers.

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Related articles:

• NotebookLM Tips #3: All the Ways to Import Sources — The complete guide to every import method available.
• How to Organize NotebookLM Sources with Folders — Structure your imports with drag-and-drop folders.
• Save and Reuse AI Prompts in NotebookLM — Analyze imported sources instantly with saved prompts.
• Keep Your NotebookLM Sources Up to Date — Ensure your imported sources stay fresh and current.