diff --git a/idea/plugin.properties b/idea/plugin.properties
index abbb996f..dac44e0a 100644
--- a/idea/plugin.properties
+++ b/idea/plugin.properties
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@
 
 # Project version - valid values are 3, 4
 maven.idea.project.version=4
+maven.idea.target.exclude=true
diff --git a/idea/src/plugin-resources/templates/v4/module.jelly b/idea/src/plugin-resources/templates/v4/module.jelly
index 2b97d5fe..d2c55bd0 100644
--- a/idea/src/plugin-resources/templates/v4/module.jelly
+++ b/idea/src/plugin-resources/templates/v4/module.jelly
@@ -121,6 +121,10 @@
           <maven:makeRelativePath var="value" basedir="${basedir}" path="${pom.build.unitTestSourceDirectory}" separator="/" />
           <sourceFolder url="file://$$MODULE_DIR$$/${value}" isTestSource="true"/>
         </j:if>
+        <j:if test="${maven.idea.target.exclude}">
+          <maven:makeRelativePath var="value" basedir="${basedir}" path="${maven.build.dir}" separator="/" />
+          <excludeFolder url="file://$$MODULE_DIR$$/${value}"/>	
+        </j:if>      
       </content>
       <orderEntry type="jdk" jdkName="java version &quot;${java.version}&quot;"/>
       <orderEntry type="sourceFolder" forTests="false"/>
diff --git a/idea/xdocs/changes.xml b/idea/xdocs/changes.xml
index 19d51e97..f1a593c4 100644
--- a/idea/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/idea/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.5.1-SNAPSHOT" date="in SVN">
+      <action dev="brett" type="fix" issue="MPIDEA-12" due-to="Matthew McGowan">exclude build output directory in module</action>
       <action dev="brett" type="fix" issue="MPIDEA-17">set module to JAVA_MODULE for compatibility with both 4.5 and Irida.</action>
     </release>
     <release version="1.5" date="2004-06-25">
diff --git a/idea/xdocs/properties.xml b/idea/xdocs/properties.xml
index 843af331..a7a63b71 100644
--- a/idea/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/idea/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -80,6 +80,17 @@
              Default value is ${maven.multiproject.basedir}  
           </td>
         </tr>        
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.idea.target.exclude</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+             Flag to control exclusion of the target directory from the idea
+             project. This can give a speed up for large projects and avoids
+             finding duplicate resources when using "Go to file...".
+             <br/>
+             Default value is true.
+          </td>
+        </tr>        
       </table> 
     </section>
   </body>