Effective April 1, 2017, purchases of class B shares will be closed to new and existing investors except by exchange from class B shares of another Putnam fund or through dividend and/or capital gains reinvestment.

The prospectus is supplemented as follows to add information about class T shares. Class T shares of the fund are not currently available for purchase.

The front cover page is supplemented to add class T shares to the list of shares to which the prospectus relates, and to indicate that the fund symbol for class T shares is pending.

The following information replaces similar disclosure for the fund under Fees and expenses:

The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Putnam funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in How do I buy fund shares? beginning on page 18 of the fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus, and in How to buy shares beginning on page II-1 of the fund’s statement of additional information (SAI).

The following information is added to similar disclosure for the fund under Fees and expenses:

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)



	Maximum sales charge (load)	Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a
	imposed on purchases (as a	percentage of original purchase price or redemption
Share class	percentage of offering price)	proceeds, whichever is lower)

Class T	2.50%	NONE

Annual fund operating expenses
(expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)



		Distribution		Total annual	Expense	Total annual fund
	Manage-	and service	Other	fund operating	reimburse-	operating expenses after
Share class	ment fees	(12b-1) fees	expenses	expenses	ment#	expense reimbursement


Class T	0.62%	0.25%	0.45%<	1.32%	(0.21%)	1.11%

< Other expenses are based on expenses of class A shares for the fund’s last fiscal year.

# Reflects Putnam Investment Management, LLC’s contractual obligation to limit certain fund expenses through November 30, 2017. This obligation may be modified or discontinued only with approval of the Board of Trustees.

Example

The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then, except as indicated, redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Only the first year of each period in the example takes into account the expense reimbursement described above. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

Putnam Low Volatility Equity Fund

RiskReturn

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Expense [Heading]

rr_ExpenseHeading

Fees and expenses

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

rr_ShareholderFeesCaption

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

Annual fund operating expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination

November 30, 2017

Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]

rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts

You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Putnam funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in How do I buy fund shares? beginning on page 18 of the fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus, and in How to buy shares beginning on page II-1 of the fund’s statement of additional information (SAI).

Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]

rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount

$ 50,000

Expense Example [Heading]

rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

Putnam Low Volatility Equity Fund | Class T

RiskReturn

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

2.50%

Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of original purchase price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower)

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther

none

Management fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.62%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.45%

^[1]

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.32%

Expense reimbursement

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.21%)

^[2]

Total annual fund operating expenses after expense reimbursement

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

1.11%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 361

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

638

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear05

937

Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear10

$ 1,785

Putnam Short Duration Income Fund

RiskReturn

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Expense [Heading]

rr_ExpenseHeading

Fees and expenses

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. Information about sales charge discounts is available from your financial advisor and in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus.

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

rr_ShareholderFeesCaption

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

Annual fund operating expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination

November 30, 2017

Expense Example [Heading]

rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

Putnam Short Duration Income Fund | Class T

RiskReturn

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of original purchase price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower)

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther

none

Management fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.34%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.11%

^[1]

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.70%

Expense reimbursement

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.15%)

^[2]

Total annual fund operating expenses after expense reimbursement

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

0.55%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 56

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

209

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear05

375

Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear10

$ 856

[1]	Other expenses are based on expenses of class A shares for the fund's last fiscal year.
[2]	Reflects Putnam Investment Management, LLC's contractual obligation to limit certain fund expenses through November 30, 2017. This obligation may be modified or discontinued only with approval of the Board of Trustees.

Share class

1 year

3 years

5 years

10 years