A document distributing method is proposed using access control information separated into invisible data embedded as an electronic watermark and visible data described in a structured document to achieve prevention of unauthorized alteration of document data, authentication thereof, and prevention of unauthorized access thereto. The method has a step of separating access control information into a first access control information and a second access control information, a step of embedding the first access control information into administrative information-enclosing data, a step of setting an administrative identifier for making the administrative information-enclosing data in which the first access control information has been embedded be an information item in the document data, and a step of enclosing, in the administrative identifier, information content of the administrative information-enclosing data and the second access control information for creating the access control information for accessing the document data together with the first access control information.