Borrowings (Details) (USD $)									9 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2011	Jul. 31, 2012 Current portion of long-term debt	Oct. 31, 2011 Current portion of long-term debt	Jul. 31, 2012 Commercial paper	Oct. 31, 2011 Commercial paper	Jul. 31, 2012 Obligation related to notes payable to banks, lines of credit, uncommitted line of credit and other debt	Oct. 31, 2011 Obligation related to notes payable to banks, lines of credit, uncommitted line of credit and other debt	Jul. 31, 2012 Credit facility expiring March 2017	Jul. 31, 2012 Credit facility expired February 2015
Notes Payable and Short-Term Borrowings
Amount outstanding	$ 5,681,000,000	$ 8,083,000,000	$ 4,576,000,000	$ 4,345,000,000	$ 574,000,000	$ 3,215,000,000	$ 531,000,000	$ 523,000,000
Weighted average interest rate (as a percent)			1.30%	2.40%	0.90%	0.40%	2.80%	2.90%
Deposits associated with banking activities							357,000,000	355,000,000
Commercial paper authorization by HP					16,000,000,000
Subsidiaries' commercial paper authorization					1,000,000,000
Subsidiaries' commercial paper authorization, available for Hewlett-Packard International Bank PLC					500,000,000
Term of credit facility (in years)									P5Y	P4Y
Amount available under credit facility	7,500,000,000								3,000,000,000	4,500,000,000
Available borrowing resources, other than 2012 Shelf Registration	$ 17,400,000,000				$ 15,900,000,000		$ 1,500,000,000