| **Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements (Note)**                              | 9 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   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| **Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 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| Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements                                         | CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Basis of PresentationCLARCOR Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company” or “CLARCOR”) is a global provider of filtration products, filtration systems and services, and consumer and industrial packaging products.  As discussed further in Note 13, the Company has three reportable segments: Engine/Mobile Filtration, Industrial/Environmental Filtration and Packaging.  The Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements include all domestic and foreign subsidiaries that were more than 50% owned and controlled as of each respective reporting period presented.  All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.The Consolidated Condensed Statements of Earnings and the Consolidated Condensed Statements of Cash Flows for the periods ended September 1, 2012 and August 27, 2011 and the Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheet as of September 1, 2012 have been prepared by the Company without audit.  The Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements have been prepared on the same basis as those in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 3, 2011 (“2011 Form 10-K”).  The December 3, 2011 Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheet data was derived from the Company’s year-end audited Consolidated Financial Statements as presented in the 2011 Form 10-K but does not include all disclosures required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP").  In the opinion of management, all adjustments (which include only normal recurring adjustments) necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows have been made.  The results of operations for the period ended September 1, 2012, are not necessarily indicative of the operating results for the full year.  The information included in this Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes included in the 2011 Form 10-K.Cash and Cash Equivalents and Restricted CashHighly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased and that are readily saleable are considered to be cash and cash equivalents.  Restricted cash represents funds held in escrow and cash balances held by German banks as collateral for certain guarantees of overseas subsidiaries.  Restricted cash classified as current corresponds to guarantees that expire within one year.  The Company also has $1,809 and $1,590 of noncurrent restricted cash recorded in Other noncurrent assets as of September 1, 2012 and December 3, 2011, respectively, corresponding to guarantees and escrow agreements that expire longer than one year from the dates of the Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheets.InventoriesInventories are valued at the lower of cost or market primarily determined on the first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) method of inventory costing, which approximates current cost.  Inventories are summarized as follows: September 1, 2012 December 3, 2011Raw materials$74,158 $72,289Work in process36,327 30,957Finished products100,036 97,028 Inventories$210,521 $200,274 New Accounting GuidanceIn July 2012, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued amendments to its indefinite-lived intangible assets impairment testing guidance to simplify how entities test for indefinite-lived intangible asset impairments.  The objective of the amendments is to reduce cost and complexity by providing an entity with the option to make a qualitative assessment about the likelihood that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired to determine whether it should perform a quantitative impairment test.  The amendments also enhance the consistency of impairment testing guidance by permitting an entity to assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to calculate the asset's fair value when testing an indefinite-lived intangible asset for impairment, which is equivalent to the impairment testing requirements for other long-lived assets.  The amendments are effective for annual and interim impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after September 15, 2012, although early adoption is permitted.  The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance on, or before, December 2, 2012 to have a material impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements.In September 2011, the FASB issued amendments to its goodwill impairment testing guidance to simplify how entities test for goodwill impairments.  The amendments are intended to reduce complexity and cost by providing a company the option of making an initial qualitative evaluation about the likelihood of goodwill impairment in determining whether it should calculate the fair value of a reporting unit.  The amendments also include examples of events and circumstances that a company should consider in evaluating whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount.  The amendments are effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011, although early adoption is permitted.  The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance on, or before, December 2, 2012 to have a material impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements.In June 2011, the FASB issued amendments to its comprehensive income guidance to (a) improve the comparability, consistency and transparency of financial reporting, (b) increase the prominence of items reported in other comprehensive income and (c) facilitate the convergence of U.S. GAAP with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS").  The amendments require all non-owner changes in shareholders' equity be presented either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements.  The required amendments, pursuant to the guidance, must be applied retrospectively.   In December 2011, the FASB issued amendments to defer certain presentation requirements of the initial guidance.  The guidance is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011, although early adoption is permitted.  The adoption of this guidance on December 2, 2012 will affect the presentation of the Consolidated Statements of Earnings and the Consolidated Statements of Shareholders' Equity, but will not have a material effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.In May 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending fair value measurement and disclosure requirements in order to align U.S. GAAP and IFRS.  Consequently, the amendments change the wording used to describe many of the requirements in U.S. GAAP for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements.  Some of the amendments clarify the intent about the application of existing fair value measurement requirements, while other amendments change a particular principle or requirement for measuring fair value or for disclosing information about fair value measurements.  The impact of adopting this guidance on March 4, 2012 was not material to the Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements.In December 2010, the FASB issued guidance which amends the pro forma disclosure requirements for business combinations and specifies that if a public company presents comparative financial statements, the company should disclose revenue and earnings of the combined entity as though business combinations occurring during the year had occurred as of the beginning of the comparable prior annual reporting period only.  The guidance also expands the pro forma disclosure requirements to include a description of the nature and amount of material, nonrecurring pro forma adjustments directly attributable to the business combination included in the reported pro forma revenue and earnings.  The impact of adopting this guidance on December 4, 2011 was not material to the Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements. |

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| - Definition
The entire disclosure for the organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure, and significant accounting policies of the reporting entity. May be provided in more than one note to the financial statements, as long as users are provided with an understanding of (1) the significant judgments and assumptions made by an enterprise in determining whether it must consolidate a VIE and/or disclose information about its involvement with a VIE, (2) the nature of restrictions on a consolidated VIE's assets reported by an enterprise in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets, (3) the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with an enterprise's involvement with the VIE, and (4) how an enterprise's involvement with the VIE affects the enterprise's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows.  Describes procedure if disclosures are provided in more than one note to the financial statements.
+ References
Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Accounting Principles Board Opinion (APB) -Number 22 -Paragraph 8 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.  This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Number 94-6 -Paragraph 10 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.  This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name FASB Interpretation (FIN) -Number 46R -Paragraph 4, 14, 15 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.  This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.
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