Imported swf loses all functions - help!

to start out i m fairly new to flash and this site is a great help in many aspects of getting a website done.

now as suggested i am workin on separate parts of my website and plan to piece them together later. however a problem has come up:

i have two .swf files. the intro page - and the menu page. i want the menu page to open when the enter button on the intro page is clicked.

after mporting the menu.swf i can place it on the working area and choose all the various elements … but all the buttons, links and code are gone. every single piece of work done on menu.swf is lost upon importing it - am i doing something wrong?

the buttons, for instance, are no longer buttons but rather just symbols - graphics :frowning:

any help would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks,
d