---
title: Importing to web application projects
related:
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/deploying-websites/exporting-and-importing-sites.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/deploying-websites/publishing-projects-from-visual-studio.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/configuring-kentico/managing-sites.md
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

Due to the [differences between website and web application](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd547590.aspx) projects, the system cannot import from one to another automatically.

For packages that contain physical files, you need to [complete the standard import procedure](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/deploying-websites/exporting-and-importing-sites/importing-a-site-or-objects.md), and then manually perform the following steps to ensure that your web application runs correctly:

1. The import places all physical files from the imported package into the _\~/App\_Data/CMSTemp/ImportExport/Files_ folder (or a different folder if your application has the _CMSTemporaryFilesFolderPath_ web.config key set to a custom folder). Copy the content of the folder into the **CMS** folder of your web application project.

   > **Warning:** We strongly recommend creating a backup of your project before you overwrite any files.

2. Open the solution file (_WebApp.sln_) in Visual Studio from the web project directory.

3. Include the files that did not exist in the project before the import:

   1. Click **Show all files** at the top of the Solution Explorer.
   2. Locate the newly added files.
   3. Select the files you wish to include one-by-one while holding the **Ctrl** key.
   4. Right-click one of the files and select **Include in Project**.

4. Convert the project to the web application format:
   - Select the project node (CMSApp) in the Solution Explorer, open the _Project_ menu on the main toolbar and select **Convert To Web Application**.

5. Rebuild the solution.

> **Info:** If you are importing a package from another web application project, you do not need to convert the files (step 4), but it is still necessary to include the imported files in the project.

## Importing into precompiled projects

If you are running a [precompiled website](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/deploying-websites/publishing-projects-from-visual-studio.md), you cannot import:

- Physical files that require compilation (such as _cs_, _vb_, _aspx_, _ascx_)
- The **App\_Code** folder
- Virtual objects that contain ASP.NET markup:
  - [Page layouts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/developing-websites/developing-websites-using-portal-engine/editing-page-layouts.md) (ASCX type)
  - [Transformations](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations.md) (ASCX type)
  - [Web part layouts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/developing-websites/developing-web-parts/using-custom-web-part-layouts.md)
  - [Form layouts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/managing-website-content/forms/defining-custom-form-layout.md) (ASCX type)

To add files or objects that require compilation, you need to perform the import on the original project and run the precompilation again.