A system and method are provided that are capable of managing data of
documents such as materials and data of information that is written into
the documents in a user-friendly manner compared to conventional systems
and methods. An image forming apparatus is provided with an original
document registration process portion for performing a process of
entering original document data used for reproducing an image of an
original document, an additional information registration process portion
for performing a process of entering additional data used for reproducing
an image showing additional information that is information written into
the document and of setting an access privilege and a document database
for memorizing original document data of the entered document and
additional data of the additional information for the document and
additional information access privilege data indicating the set access
privilege of the additional information in association with one another.