Commitments and Contingencies - Commercial Litigation (Details)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($) patent claim
Commercial Litigation - Andover Healthcare
Loss contingencies
Accrued loss contingency reserve	$ 0
Commercial Litigation - TransWeb Corporation
Loss contingencies
Payment of legal judgment	$ 27,000,000
Number of counts jury did not rule in favor of Transweb \| claim	1
Number of 3M patents unenforceable due to inequitable conduct \| patent	2
Potential loss due to judgment against 3M	$ 26,000,000

Number of counts jury did not rule in favor of Transweb.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	mmm_
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- Definition

The number of 3M patents that the court found to be unenforceable due to inequitable conduct.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	mmm_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents the potential loss due to judgment against 3M.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	mmm_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of judgment or settlement awarded to (against) the entity in respect of litigation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
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

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- Definition

Amount of loss contingency liability.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 450
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=25496072&loc=d3e14326-108349

+ Details

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Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

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- Details

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