Employee and Director Stock Plans - Stock-Based Compensation Expense - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Millions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended																		0 Months Ended
	Jan. 14, 2014	Jan. 31, 2014 Plan		Jan. 31, 2013		Jan. 31, 2012		Jan. 31, 2014 Employee Stock Plan 2012	Jan. 31, 2014 Outside directors stock plan 2012	Jan. 31, 2014 Outside directors stock plan 2012 Minimum	Jan. 31, 2014 Outside directors stock plan 2012 Maximum	Jan. 31, 2014 ESP Plan	Jan. 31, 2013 ESP Plan	Jan. 31, 2012 ESP Plan	Jan. 31, 2014 Stock Options and Restricted Stock Employee Stock Plan 2012	Jan. 31, 2014 Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and Performance Stock Units (PSUs)	Jan. 31, 2013 Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and Performance Stock Units (PSUs)	Jan. 31, 2012 Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and Performance Stock Units (PSUs)	Jan. 31, 2014 Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)	Jan. 31, 2013 Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)	Jan. 31, 2012 Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)	Jan. 31, 2014 Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) Outside directors stock plan 2012	Jan. 31, 2014 Performance Stock Units (PSUs)	Jan. 31, 2013 Performance Stock Units (PSUs)	Jan. 31, 2014 Performance Stock Units (PSUs) Year One	Jan. 31, 2014 Performance Stock Units (PSUs) Year Two	Jan. 31, 2014 Performance Stock Units (PSUs) Year Three	Aug. 02, 2012 Socialcam Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Compensation Related Costs Share Based Payments Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of Active Stock Plans		2
Number of Expired Plans		8
Shares of common stock reserved for issuance (in shares)								32,600,000	2,600,000
Restricted stock award, net of forfeitures (in shares)								26,600,000
Shares forfeited (in shares)								6,000,000
Shares granted to shares issued (in shares)		$ 2.11						$ 1.79
Grants in period, net of forfeitures (in shares)		0	[1]												14,100,000							400,000
Number of additional share authorized (in shares)	11,400,000
Share based payment award options expiration term (in years)															10 years
Shares available for future issuance (in shares)		59,700,000						19,400,000	2,200,000			38,100,000
Vesting period								3 years		1 year	3 years
Total compensation costs related to non-vested options		$ 8.2
Total compensation costs related to non-vested options, expected to be recognized over a weighted average period (in years)		5 months 25 days
Granted (in dollars per share)																$ 42.37	$ 33.32	$ 37.07
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Equity Instruments Other than Options, Vested in Period, Fair Value																73.8	33.6	18.4
Restricted stock granted (in shares)																4,077,100			3,500,000				500,000
Share based compensation expense, restricted stock units						0													74.9	70.5	29.1		8.7	8.1
Research and Development Expense		611.1		600.0		566.5																						16.6
Total compensation cost related to non-vested awards not yet recognized																			152.4				2.3
Total compensation cost related to non-vested awards not yet recognized, weighted average period of recognition (in years)																			1 year 10 months 17 days				10 months 27 days
Number of awards granted but unreleased																6,515,600	5,020,800		5,700,000				800,000
Vesting percentage (up to percentage)																									33.33%	33.33%	33.33%
Percentage of compensation that eligible employees can use to purchase common stock, maximum		15.00%
Percentage of fair market value eligible employees can purchase common stock, minimum		85.00%
Shares available for future issuance, increases on the first trading day of each fiscal year (In shares)		10,000,000
Shares available for future issuance, percentage of outstanding shares plus any shares repurchased by Autodesk (as a percent)		2.00%
Shares issued under the ESP plan (in dollars per share)												2,900,000	2,900,000	2,800,000
Shares issued under the ESP Plan, average price (in dollars per share)												$ 22.61	$ 21.79	$ 18.26
Weighted average grant date fair value (in dollars per share)		$ 0.00	[2]	$ 13.39	[2]	$ 14.04	[2]					$ 11.80	$ 12.21	$ 9.95
Employee Service Share Based Compensation recognized Compensation Costs On Nonvested Restricted Shares												$ 22.9	$ 34.0	$ 23.8

[1] Autodesk did not grant stock options in the twelve months ended January 31, 2014.

[2] The weighted average grant date fair value per share of stock options granted is calculated, as of the stock option grant date, using the BSM option pricing model. For the twelve months ended January 31, 2014, Autodesk did not grant stock options.