Patent ID: 8823980

Claim:
A printing system including: an image forming apparatus having a printing function; a data generation apparatus which generates, from document data serving as a print target, print data printable by the image forming apparatus; and a storage apparatus which stores data about print data to be processed by the image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus, the data generation apparatus, and the storage apparatus are communicable with each other via a network, wherein the data generation apparatus comprises: a generation unit configured to generate, from document data as a print target, print data having a format printable by the image forming apparatus and generate an identifier for uniquely specifying the generated print data; an acquisition unit configured to acquire data for extracting text information included in the generated print data and a first sending unit configured to send data about the generated print data and the acquired data to the storage apparatus, wherein the data about the generated print data includes the generated identifier, wherein the image forming apparatus comprises: a recording unit configured to record, as difference data, a setting difference upon a setting change for print data performed when performing printing for the print data generated by the data generation apparatus, in a storage, wherein the setting change recorded as the difference data is a change about features or local data of the image forming apparatus, wherein the storage apparatus comprises: a storage unit configured to store, in association with each other, the data about the print data sent by the first sending unit, the acquired data and the difference data recorded by the recording unit by using the generated identifier.