Debt - Additional Information (Detail)	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended												6 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2010 Entity	Jun. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Oct. 07, 2011 North American Agreement USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 North American Agreement USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Australia/New Zealand Credit Agreement [Member] AUD	Oct. 07, 2011 Canadian Subsidiary North American Agreement USD ($)	Oct. 07, 2011 Other Participating North American Subsidiaries North American Agreement USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 Minimum North American Agreement	Jun. 30, 2012 Maximum	Jun. 30, 2012 Maximum North American Agreement	Jun. 30, 2012 Including interest payments related to the securitization notes USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 Including interest payments related to the securitization notes USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Excluding interest payments related to the securitization notes USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 Excluding interest payments related to the securitization notes USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Grupo OfficeMax [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Grupo OfficeMax [Member] Simple Revolving Loan USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Unsecured Debt Grupo OfficeMax [Member] 60-Month Installment [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Secured Debt Grupo OfficeMax [Member] 54-Month Installment [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Medium-term Notes [Member] Series A Senior Notes [Member] USD ($)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Initiation date of credit agreement				Oct. 07, 2011	Mar. 15, 2010
Maximum borrowing capacity under the facility agreement			$ 650,000,000		80,000,000	$ 50,000,000	$ 600,000,000
Maximum borrowing increase or reduction capacity under the facility agreement			850,000,000
Maximum amount of letters of credit allowed per revolving credit agreement			250,000,000	42,900,000
Expiration date of credit agreement				Oct. 07, 2016	Oct. 30, 2012
Fees on letters of credit, percentage		1.75%							1.25%		2.25%
Unused line fee rate		0.50%						0.375%		0.50%
Number of wholly-owned subsidiaries	5
Borrowing under the credit agreements		0
Repayment of note																				35,000,000
Percentage of ownership in joint venture																51.00%
Other borrowings																12,900,000	6,400,000	3,700,000	2,800,000
Cash payments for interest, net of interest capitalized												$ 34,600,000	$ 35,300,000	$ 14,700,000	$ 15,400,000