Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Pronouncements	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2012
Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Pronouncements [Abstract]
Recently Adopted New Accounting Pronouncements [Text Block]	Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Pronouncements In September 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a revised standard intended to reduce the cost and complexity of the annual goodwill impairment test by providing entities an option to perform a “qualitative” assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary. An entity has the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step test. If an entity believes, as a result of its qualitative assessment, that it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the quantitative impairment test is required. Otherwise, no further testing is required. The revised standard is effective for Imation for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed beginning January 1, 2012 and will not have a material impact on our financial position and results of operations. In June 2011, the FASB issued amended guidance to enhance comparability between entities that report under U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and to provide a more consistent method of presenting non-owner transactions that affect an entity's equity. This guidance eliminates the option to report other comprehensive income and its components in the statement of changes in stockholders' equity and requires an entity to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement or in two separate but consecutive statements. Regardless of whether one or two statements are presented, an entity is required to show reclassification adjustments on the face of the financial statements for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income. In December 2011, the FASB amended this guidance to indefinitely defer provisions which required entities to present reclassification adjustments out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component in both the statement in which net income is presented and the statement in which other comprehensive income is presented. This guidance was effective for Imation for our first quarter ended March 31, 2012 and only changes the presentation of our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements with the addition of the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss. In May 2011, the FASB issued amended disclosure requirements to provide a consistent definition of fair value and ensure that the fair value measurement and disclosure requirements are similar between U.S. GAAP and IFRS. This guidance changes certain fair value measurement principles and enhances the disclosure requirements particularly for Level 3 fair value measurements. This guidance was effective for Imation for our first quarter ended March 31, 2012 and did not have a material impact on our financial position and results of operations. A variety of proposed potential accounting standards are currently under study by standard setting organizations and various regulatory agencies. Due to the tentative and preliminary nature of those proposed standards, management has not determined whether implementation of such proposed standards would be material to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In September 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a revised standard intended to reduce the cost and complexity of the annual goodwill impairment test by providing entities an option to perform a “qualitative” assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary. An entity has the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step test. If an entity believes, as a result of its qualitative assessment, that it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the quantitative impairment test is required. Otherwise, no further testing is required. The revised standard is effective for Imation for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed beginning January 1, 2012 and will not have a material impact on our financial position and results of operations.

In June 2011, the FASB issued amended guidance to enhance comparability between entities that report under U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and to provide a more consistent method of presenting non-owner transactions that affect an entity's equity. This guidance eliminates the option to report other comprehensive income and its components in the statement of changes in stockholders' equity and requires an entity to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement or in two separate but consecutive statements. Regardless of whether one or two statements are presented, an entity is required to show reclassification adjustments on the face of the financial statements for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income. In December 2011, the FASB amended this guidance to indefinitely defer provisions which required entities to present reclassification adjustments out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component in both the statement in which net income is presented and the statement in which other comprehensive income is presented. This guidance was effective for Imation for our first quarter ended March 31, 2012 and only changes the presentation of our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements with the addition of the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss.

In May 2011, the FASB issued amended disclosure requirements to provide a consistent definition of fair value and ensure that the fair value measurement and disclosure requirements are similar between U.S. GAAP and IFRS. This guidance changes certain fair value measurement principles and enhances the disclosure requirements particularly for Level 3 fair value measurements. This guidance was effective for Imation for our first quarter ended March 31, 2012 and did not have a material impact on our financial position and results of operations.

A variety of proposed potential accounting standards are currently under study by standard setting organizations and various regulatory agencies. Due to the tentative and preliminary nature of those proposed standards, management has not determined whether implementation of such proposed standards would be material to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.