How to update folders automatically with IntelliJ - maven

Question

I have a Maven configuration that copies my web resources to a directory in target. From there it is read by Jetty. What I want (and what Eclipse always did for me) is update the target/web directory when something in the src/main/webapp directory changed. I can't get IntelliJ to do the same:
The resource configuration like this:
<resource>
<directory>src/main/webapp</directory>
<excludes>
<exclude>less/</exclude>
</excludes>
<filtering>false</filtering>
<targetPath>${project.build.directory}/web</targetPath>
</resource>
Right now I have to run the Generate sources and update folders everytime I make a change. Can't IntelliJ Detect this automatically?
Notes:
I do not build a war but a folder distribution.
I already tried moving it to target/generated-sources/web but that makes no difference.
The target/web is not marked as excluded in the module configuration.
The folder is marked as a resource folder. I tried marking it as a source folder but that made no difference.

Answer 1

The problem can be solved by using the File watchers plug-in. This plug-in doesn't ship with IntelliJ by default but it is very useful. From there, you can watch your *.less/html/js files and re-generate them if you edit them. In my case I run the appropriate Maven goals but you can also call the less compiler directly if you want to.
In the configuration set "Output paths to refresh" to the the custom directory you are using (in my case $OutputPath$/web). After that, any change should be refreshed automatically.

Answer 2

I think, yes: try pressing Ctrl+Shift+A, type "Import Maven", click the checkbox "Import Maven project automatically". This will enable auto-import which copies resources as well.