# Importing Web archive (WAR) files

A Web Archive (WAR) file is a portable, packaged Web application that you can import into your workspace.

Note: if you want to work with an existing workbench Web project or share Web projects, we highly recommend that you use the Project Interchange feature, as this feature preserves all your metadata.

Before importing a WAR file, you should first determine if the WAR file contains needed Java™ source files. When importing a WAR file into an existing Web project, the imported Web deployment descriptor files are either not changed or overwritten by the ones included in the imported WAR file, based on your response to the prompt that is provided. In either case, this action does not represent a merging of the two sets of deployment descriptors.

To import the Web project resources in a WAR file into your workspace, complete the following steps:

1. Select File > Import.
2. In the Import dialog, select WAR file and then click Next.
3. Locate the WAR file that you want to import using the Browse button.
4. The wizard assumes you want to create a new Web project with the same name as the WAR file. If you accept this choice, the project will be created with the same servlet version as specified by the WAR file and in the same location. If you want to override these settings, you can click New and specify your new settings in the Dynamic Web Project wizard.

   If you want to import the WAR file into an existing Web project, you can select the project from the Web project drop-down list. Note that if you select an existing project, you must decide whether you want to select the setting to overwrite existing resources without warning

5. Click Finish to populate the Web project.

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