Retirement Benefit Plans - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2019	Jan. 31, 2018	Jan. 31, 2017
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Funded percentage	88.00%
Accumulated benefit obligation	$ 85.1	$ 139.5
Estimated future employer contributions in next fiscal year	$ 4.6
Expected long-term rate of return on plan assets	3.30%	3.30%	4.30%
United States
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Maximum annual contributions per employee	75.00%
Cost Recognized	$ 17.1	$ 17.3	$ 16.4
Foreign Plan
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Contributions paid by employer	$ 29.6	$ 27.2	$ 26.6
Insurance contracts
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Actual plan asset allocations	35.00%	44.00%
Mandatory Retirement Savings, Cash Balance Plan
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Weighted-average interest crediting rate	1.00%	1.00%	1.30%
Supplementary Retirement Savings, Cash Balance Plan
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Weighted-average interest crediting rate	0.30%	0.30%	0.80%

Defined Benefit Plan, Weighted-Average Interest Crediting Rate

No definition available.

Name:	adsk_DefinedBenefitPlanWeightedAverageInterestCreditingRate
Namespace Prefix:	adsk_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of actuarial present value of benefits attributed to employee service rendered, excluding assumptions about future compensation level.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (e)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

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

- Definition

Weighted average rate of return on plan assets, reflecting average rate of earnings expected on existing plan assets and expected contributions, used to determine net periodic benefit cost of defined benefit plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (k)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanAssumptionsUsedCalculatingNetPeriodicBenefitCostExpectedLongTermReturnOnAssets
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of contributions expected to be received by defined benefit plan from employer in next fiscal year following latest fiscal year.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (g)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanExpectedFutureEmployerContributionsNextFiscalYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of plan assets to benefit obligation of defined benefit plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanFundedPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of actual investment allocation to total plan assets. Includes, but is not limited to, percentage on weighted-average basis if more than one plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanWeightedAverageAssetAllocations
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of cost for defined contribution plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 70
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49170846&loc=d3e28014-114942

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedContributionPlanCostRecognized
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
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_DefinedContributionPlanDisclosureLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of discretionary contributions made by an employer to a defined contribution plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Maximum percentage of employee gross pay the employee may contribute to a defined contribution plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedContributionPlanMaximumAnnualContributionsPerEmployeePercent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanSponsorLocationAxis=country_US
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanSponsorLocationAxis=us-gaap_ForeignPlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=adsk_InsuranceContractsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanTypeAxis=adsk_MandatoryRetirementSavingsCashBalancePlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanTypeAxis=adsk_SupplementaryRetirementSavingsCashBalancePlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: