Danaher Separation And Discontinued Operations (Narrative) (Details) $ / shares in Units, shares in Millions, $ in Millions		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	May. 13, 2015	Jul. 31, 2015 USD ($) shares	Apr. 01, 2016 USD ($)	Apr. 03, 2015 USD ($)	Jul. 14, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Separation, number of independent publicly traded companies	2
Separation, revenues of New Danaher adjusted to include full year of Pall revenues						$ 16,500.0
Separation, revenues of New Danaher			$ 3,900.0			14,400.0
Net sales				$ 178.6
Fortive
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Separation, revenues of Fortive			$ 1,500.0			6,200.0
Separation, pro rata distribution to Danaher shareholders of outstanding shares of Fortive, percentage			100.00%
Separation-related expenses			$ 9.0
Net discrete tax benefit (expense), amount			$ (6.0)
Communications business
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Shares redeemed through the distribution of the communications business, shares held as Treasury shares | shares		26.0
Shares redeemed through the distribution of the communications business, value		$ 2,300.0
Disposition of communications business, aggregate consideration number of Netscout shares received | shares		62.5
Disposition of communications business, percentage of investment ownership		60.00%
Aggregate after-tax gain on disposition						$ 767.0
After-tax gain on sale upon closing of transaction, per diluted share | $ / shares						$ 1.08
Net sales					$ 346.0		$ 760.0
Transition services agreement period, maximum		12 months