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Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Registrant Name dei_EntityRegistrantName First Trust Exchange-Traded AlphaDEX Fund II
Prospectus Date rr_ProspectusDate May 01, 2017
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Risk/Return [Heading] rr_RiskReturnHeading

Summary Information
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading

Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX® Fund (the "Fund") seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund's fees and expenses) of an equity index called the NASDAQ AlphaDEX® Switzerland Index (the "Index").
Expense [Heading] rr_ExpenseHeading

Fees and Expenses of the Fund
Expense Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. Investors purchasing and selling shares may be subject to costs (including customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker, which are not reflected in the table below.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text] rr_ShareholderFeesCaption

Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text] rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading] rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading

Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 92% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate 92.00%
Expense Example [Heading] rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Example
Expense Example, No Redemption Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionNarrativeTextBlock

The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. This example does not take into account customary brokerage commissions that you pay when purchasing or selling shares of the Fund in the secondary market.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain at current levels until April 30, 2018, and thereafter at 1.05% to represent the imposition of the 12b-1 fee of 0.25% per annum of the Fund's average daily net assets. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Strategy [Heading] rr_StrategyHeading

Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in common stocks and/or depositary receipts that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund's investment advisor seeks a correlation of 0.95 or better (before fees and expenses) between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Index; a figure of 1.00 would represent perfect correlation. The Index is owned and is developed, maintained and sponsored by Nasdaq, Inc. (the "Index Provider").

The Fund invests in securities issued by companies operating in Switzerland, as classified by the Index Provider. Companies are classified as operating in a country primarily by their country of incorporation, domicile and primary exchange listing.

The Index is designed to select stocks from the NASDAQ Switzerland Index (the "Base Index") that may generate positive alpha, or risk-adjusted returns, relative to traditional indices through the use of the AlphaDEX® selection methodology. Alpha is an indication of how much an investment outperforms or underperforms on a risk-adjusted basis relative to its benchmark. The Base Index is a comprehensive, rules-based index designed to measure stock market performance of companies in Switzerland, as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated.

Security selection for the Index will be conducted in the following manner:

1.The selection universe for the Index begins with all stocks in the Base Index.

2.The Index Provider then removes any stocks which do not trade on an eligible exchange; duplicate (multiple share classes) stocks; stocks which do not meet the Index Provider's liquidity screens; and stocks with a market capitalization less than the midcap breakpoint (50th percentile) as calculated by Nasdaq. As of March 31, 2017, the midcap breakpoint was $3.154 billion.

3.The remaining stocks in the universe are then ranked on both growth and value factors. Each stock receives the best style rank from this step as its selection score.

4.The top 40 stocks based on the selection score determined in step 3 comprise the "selected stocks." The selected stocks are then split into quintiles based on their selection score, with higher scoring quintiles receiving a greater weight in the Index.

5.The Index is subject to sector weighting constraints which are set at 15% above the sector percentages of the Base Index. For example, if financial companies comprise 15% of the Base Index, the Index will be comprised of no more than 30% financials. Stocks will fail the sector constraint if the weight assigned to the stock, when added to the weight assigned to all higher ranking stocks in its sector, is greater than the sector weighting constraint.

The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced on a semi-annual basis and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The inception date of the Index was December 15, 2014. As of March 31, 2017, the Index was composed of 40 securities. See "Index Information" for additional information.

The Fund may hold investments that are denominated in non-U.S. currencies. The Index includes the securities of small and mid cap companies. As of December 31, 2016, the Fund had significant investments in financials and industrials companies.
Risk [Heading] rr_RiskHeading

Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block] rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment objective will be achieved.

AUTHORIZED PARTICIPANT CONCENTRATION RISK. Only an authorized participant (as defined in the "Frequent Purchases and Redemptions" Section) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as authorized participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other authorized participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, in either of these cases, Fund shares may trade at a discount to the Fund's net asset value and possibly face delisting.

CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE RISK. Changes in currency exchange rates and the relative value of non-U.S. currencies will affect the value of the Fund's investment and the value of Fund shares. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning and you may lose money.

CYBER SECURITY RISK. As the use of Internet technology has become more prevalent in the course of business, the Fund has become more susceptible to potential operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to the Fund's digital information systems through "hacking" or malicious software coding, but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks through efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. In addition, cyber security breaches of the Fund's third party service providers, such as its administrator, transfer agent, custodian, or sub-advisor, as applicable, or issuers in which the Fund invests, can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches. The Fund has established risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security. However, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because the Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers or third party service providers.

DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS RISK. Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert the equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause the equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.

EQUITY SECURITIES RISK. Because the Fund invests in equity securities, the value of the Fund's shares will fluctuate with changes in the value of these equity securities. Equity securities prices fluctuate for several reasons, including changes in investors' perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant stock market, such as market volatility, or when political or economic events affecting the issuers occur. In addition, common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase.

FINANCIAL COMPANIES RISK. Financial companies are especially subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentrations in geographic markets and in commercial and residential real estate loans, and competition from new entrants in their fields of business.

FLUCTUATION OF NET ASSET VALUE RISK. The net asset value of shares of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The market prices of shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in net asset value as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on Nasdaq. The Fund's investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their net asset value because the shares trade on Nasdaq at market prices and not at net asset value. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the holdings of the Fund trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. However, given that shares can only be purchased and redeemed either in-kind or for cash in Creation Units, and only to and from broker-dealers and large institutional investors that have entered into participation agreements (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their net asset value), the Fund's investment advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the net asset value of shares should not be sustained.

GROWTH STOCKS INVESTMENT RISK. Growth stocks tend to be more volatile than certain other types of stocks and their prices usually fluctuate more dramatically than the overall stock market. A stock with growth characteristics can have sharp price declines due to decreases in current or expected earnings.

INDEX CONSTITUENT RISK. The Fund may be a constituent of one or more indices. As a result, the Fund may be included in one or more index-tracking exchange-traded funds or mutual funds. Being a component security of such a vehicle could greatly affect the trading activity involving the Fund, the size of the Fund and the market volatility of the Fund. Inclusion in an index could significantly increase demand for the Fund and removal from an index could result in outsized selling activity in a relatively short period of time. As a result, the Fund's net asset value could be negatively impacted and the Fund's market price may be significantly below the Fund's net asset value during certain periods. In addition, index rebalances may potentially result in increased trading activity. To the extent buying or selling activity increases, the Fund can be exposed to increased brokerage costs and adverse tax consequences and the market price of the Fund can be negatively affected.

INDUSTRIALS COMPANIES RISK. Industrials companies convert unfinished goods into finished durables used to manufacture other goods or provide services. Some industrials companies are involved in electrical equipment and components, industrial products, manufactured housing and telecommunications equipment. General risks of industrials companies include the general state of the economy, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics, excess capacity and consumer demand and spending trends. In addition, they may also be significantly affected by overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, technical obsolescence, delays in modernization, labor relations, government regulations and e-commerce initiatives.

MARKET MAKER RISK. If the Fund has lower average daily trading volumes, it may rely on a small number of third-party market makers to provide a market for the purchase and sale of shares. Any trading halt or other problem relating to the trading activity of these market makers could result in a dramatic change in the spread between the Fund's net asset value and the price at which the Fund's shares are trading on Nasdaq, which could result in a decrease in value of the Fund's shares. In addition, decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of the Fund's portfolio securities and the Fund's market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a discount to net asset value and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask spreads for Fund shares.

MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security owned by the Fund or shares of the Fund in general may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of the Fund could decline in value or underperform other investments.

NON-CORRELATION RISK. The Fund's return may not match the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and may incur costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund's portfolio holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. In addition, the Fund's portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the securities included in the Index or the ratios between the securities included in the Index.

To the extent the Fund calculates its net asset value based on fair value prices and the value of its Index is based on securities closing prices on the applicable foreign exchange (i.e., the value of its Index is not based on fair value prices), the Fund's ability to track its Index may be adversely affected.

NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified" under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its assets which may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested in certain issuers.

NON-U.S. SECURITIES RISK. Non-U.S. securities are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of exchanges in foreign countries.

REPLICATION MANAGEMENT RISK. The Fund is exposed to additional market risk due to its policy of investing principally in the securities included in the Index. As a result of this policy, securities held by the Fund will generally not be bought or sold in response to market fluctuations.

SMALLER COMPANIES RISK. Small and/or mid capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments, and their securities may be less liquid and may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies as a result of several factors, including limited trading volumes, products or financial resources, management inexperience and less publicly available information. Accordingly, such companies are generally subject to greater market risk than larger, more established companies.

SWITZERLAND RISK. The Fund is subject to certain risks associated with Switzerland and Europe as a whole. Although Switzerland is not a member of the EU, the Swiss economy is dependent on the economies of other European nations as key trading partners. Any reduction in spending by other European countries could have a negative effect on the Swiss economy. Additionally, the European sovereign-debt crisis has resulted in a weakened Euro and has put into question the future financial prospects of the surrounding region. The ongoing implementation of the EU provisions and Euro conversion process may materially impact revenues, expenses or income and increase competition for other European companies, which could have an effect on the Swiss economy, and in turn, the securities in which the Fund invests.

TRADING ISSUES RISK. Although the shares of the Fund are listed for trading on Nasdaq, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained. Trading in shares on Nasdaq may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of Nasdaq, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in shares on Nasdaq is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to Nasdaq "circuit breaker" rules. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund's shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. There can be no assurance that the requirements of Nasdaq necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. The Fund may have difficulty maintaining its listing on Nasdaq in the event the Fund's assets are small or the Fund does not have enough shareholders.

VALUE INVESTMENT RISK. The intrinsic value of a stock with value characteristics may not be fully recognized by the market for a long time or a stock judged to be undervalued may actually be appropriately priced at a low level.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading

Annual Total Return
Performance Narrative [Text Block] rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

The bar chart and table below illustrate the annual calendar year returns of the Fund based on net asset value as well as the average annual Fund and Index returns. The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year-to-year and by showing how the Fund's average annual total returns based on net asset value compare to those of the Index, the Fund's previous Index and three broad based securities market indices. See "Total Return Information" for additional performance information regarding the Fund. The Fund's performance information is accessible on the Fund's website at www.ftportfolios.com.

On July 14, 2015 the Fund's underlying index changed from the Defined Switzerland Index to the NASDAQ AlphaDEX® Switzerland Index. Therefore, the Fund's performance and historical returns shown below are not necessarily indicative of the performance that the Fund, based on the Index, would have generated. Returns for an underlying index are only disclosed for those periods in which the index was in existence for the whole period. Because the Fund's new underlying index had an inception date of December 15, 2014, it was not in existence for all of the periods disclosed. The new Index is substantially similar to the Defined Switzerland Index.

Returns before taxes do not reflect the effects of any income or capital gains taxes. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of any state or local tax. Returns after taxes on distributions reflect the taxed return on the payment of dividends and capital gains. Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares assume you sold your shares at period end, and, therefore, are also adjusted for any capital gains or losses incurred. Returns for the market indices do not include expenses, which are deducted from Fund returns, or taxes.

Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or employee-sponsored retirement plans.
Bar Chart [Heading] rr_BarChartHeading

First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX® Fund
Calendar Year Total Returns as of 12/31

Bar Chart Closing [Text Block] rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock

During the periods shown in the chart above:

Best Quarter Worst Quarter
12.01% September 30, 2013 -8.99% September 30, 2014

The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
Performance Table Heading rr_PerformanceTableHeading

Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2016
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Management Fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.80%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none [1]
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets none
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 0.80%
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 $ 82
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 309
5 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05 555
10 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10 $ 1,260
2013 rr_AnnualReturn2013 28.89%
2014 rr_AnnualReturn2014 (5.06%)
2015 rr_AnnualReturn2015 6.06%
2016 rr_AnnualReturn2016 4.21%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel Best Quarter
Highest Quarterly Return, Date rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate Sep. 30, 2013
Highest Quarterly Return rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn 12.01%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel Worst Quarter
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate Sep. 30, 2014
Lowest Quarterly Return rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn (8.99%)
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 4.21%
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception 8.50%
Inception Date rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate Feb. 14, 2012
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | After tax on distributions | First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 3.31%
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception 7.65%
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares | First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 2.36%
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception 6.27%
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | Defined Switzerland Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 [2]
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception [2]
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | NASDAQ AlphaDEX® Switzerland Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 4.16% [3]
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception [3]
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | NASDAQ Switzerland Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 (4.58%) [3]
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception [3]
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | S&P Switzerland BMI Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 (3.65%)
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception 7.53%
First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund | MSCI Switzerland Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 (4.87%)
Since Inception rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception 6.74%
[1] Although the Fund has adopted a 12b-1 plan that permits it to pay up to 0.25% per annum, it will not pay 12b-1 fees at any time before <u />April 30, 2018.
[2] The Defined Switzerland Index was replaced with the NASDAQ AlphaDEX® Switzerland Index effective July 14, 2015. The new Index is substantially similar to the old index. The old index was terminated September 30, 2016, so performance data does not exist for these time periods.
[3] Performance data is not available for all the periods shown in the table for the index because performance data does not exist for some of the entire periods.