Number of contingent consideration payment installments.

No definition available.

Name:	novt_NumberOfContingentConsiderationInstallments
Namespace Prefix:	novt_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionContingentConsiderationLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Date when the business acquisition agreement was executed, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionDateOfAcquisitionAgreement1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Name of the acquired entity.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=79982066&loc=d3e1392-128463

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionNameOfAcquiredEntity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of liability recognized arising from contingent consideration in a business combination.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 35
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911338&loc=d3e6819-128478

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 25
-Paragraph 6
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911189&loc=d3e6408-128476

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationContingentConsiderationLiability
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of settlements of financial instrument classified as a liability measured using unobservable inputs that reflect the entity's own assumption about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99377789&loc=d3e19207-110258

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueMeasurementWithUnobservableInputsReconciliationRecurringBasisLiabilitySettlements
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=novt_ApplimotionIncorporationMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Fair Value Measurements - Business Acquisition Contingent Consideration - Additional Information (Details) - Applimotion Inc. $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 Installment	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Feb. 19, 2015 USD ($)
Business Acquisition Contingent Consideration [Line Items]
Business combination, date of agreement			Feb. 19, 2015
Name of acquired entity			Applimotion Inc.
Number of contingent consideration \| Installment			2
Estimated fair value of contingent consideration				$ 2.8	$ 1.0
Payments of contingent consideration	$ 2.8	$ 1.2