Financing Arrangements (Details) (USD $)	6 Months Ended							3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended			0 Months Ended
	Oct. 24, 2014	Apr. 25, 2014	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes 2010 Due 2015	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes 2005 Due 2016	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes 2011 Due 2016	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes 2011 Due 2021	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes 2012 Due 2022	Oct. 24, 2014 Commercial Paper	Oct. 24, 2014 Commercial Paper	Oct. 24, 2014 Credit Facility	Oct. 24, 2014 Credit Facility Line of Credit Facility 2017	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2010 Due 2015	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2005 Due 2016	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2005 Due 2016	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2011 Due 2016	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2011 Due 2016	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2017 Floating	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2017 Floating	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2017	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2017	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2013 Due 2018	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2013 Due 2018	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2009 Due 2019	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2009 Due 2019	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2010 Due 2020	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2010 Due 2020	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2011 Due 2021	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2011 Due 2021	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2012 Due 2022	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2012 Due 2022	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2013 Due 2023	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2013 Due 2023	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2024	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2024	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2009 Due 2039	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2009 Due 2039	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2010 Due 2040	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2010 Due 2040	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2012 Due 2042	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2012 Due 2042	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2013 Due 2043	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2013 Due 2043	Oct. 24, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2044	Apr. 25, 2014 Senior Notes Senior Notes 2014 Due 2044	Oct. 24, 2014 Interest Rate Swap	Apr. 25, 2014 Interest Rate Swap	Oct. 24, 2014 Capital Lease Obligations	Apr. 25, 2014 Capital Lease Obligations	Oct. 24, 2014 Bank Borrowings [Member]	Nov. 07, 2014 Senior Unsecured New Bridge Credit Agreement [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Nov. 07, 2014 Senior Unsecured New Bridge Credit Agreement [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Nov. 07, 2014 Senior Unsecured Term Loan Credit Agreement [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Nov. 07, 2014 Senior Unsecured Term Loan Credit Agreement [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Jun. 15, 2014 Senior Unsecured Existing Bridge Credit Agreement [Member]	Jun. 15, 2014 Senior Unsecured Existing Bridge Credit Agreement [Member]	Jun. 15, 2014 Senior Unsecured Cash Bridge Credit Agreement [Member] Makani II Limited [Member]	Jun. 15, 2014 Senior Unsecured Cash Bridge Credit Agreement [Member] Makani II Limited [Member]	Nov. 07, 2014 Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Agreement [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Oct. 03, 2014 Covidien PLC [Member]	Oct. 24, 2014 Long-term Debt [Member] Bank Borrowings [Member]	Apr. 25, 2014 Long-term Debt [Member] Bank Borrowings [Member]
Debt [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Maturity Date, Year, Earliest	2017																																												2016		2016
Debt Instrument, Maturity Date, Year, Last	2044																																												2022		2025
Debt Instrument, Maturity Date, Year													2016		2016		2017		2017		2018		2019		2020		2021		2022		2023		2024		2039		2040		2042		2043		2044						2017
Line of Credit Facility
Maximum credit available											$ 2,250,000,000																																								$ 11,300,000,000.0		$ 5,000,000,000.0		$ 2,800,000,000.0		$ 13,500,000,000.0	$ 3,500,000,000.0
Maximum maturities								364 days
Short-term borrowings	3,970,000,000	1,613,000,000						1,755,000,000	1,755,000,000
Weighted average original maturity								47 days	42 days
Weighted average interest rate								0.11%	0.11%
Additional borrowing capacity										750,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Length of Extension											1 year
Additional indebtedness required to finance the cash component of acquisition consideration																																																											16,300,000,000.0
Credit agreement term																																																		364 days		3 years		364 days		60 days
General Disclosures
Principal amount			1,250,000,000	600,000,000	500,000,000	500,000,000	675,000,000	2,250,000,000	2,250,000,000			1,250,000,000	600,000,000		500,000,000												500,000,000		675,000,000
Long-term debt	9,708,000,000	10,315,000,000											0	600,000,000	500,000,000	500,000,000	250,000,000	250,000,000	250,000,000	250,000,000	1,000,000,000	1,000,000,000	400,000,000	400,000,000	1,250,000,000	1,250,000,000	500,000,000	500,000,000	675,000,000	675,000,000	1,250,000,000	1,250,000,000	850,000,000	850,000,000	300,000,000	300,000,000	500,000,000	500,000,000	400,000,000	400,000,000	750,000,000	750,000,000	650,000,000	650,000,000	61,000,000	56,000,000	132,000,000	139,000,000												3,000,000	0
Debt Instrument, Unamortized Discount	(23,000,000)	(25,000,000)
Gains from interest rate swap terminations	$ 10,000,000	$ 20,000,000
Stated interest rate			3.00%	4.75%	2.625%	4.125%	3.125%					3.00%	4.75%		2.625%				0.875%		1.375%		5.60%		4.45%		4.125%		3.125%		2.75%		3.625%		6.50%		5.55%		4.50%		4.00%		4.625%