Patent ID: 7711752

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a storage device that stores a plurality of schemas defining document formats, and stores management-unit-information, wherein the management-unit-information is set for each of the schemas in advance and indicates a management unit of a document file, wherein the management unit is any one of a plurality of predetermined file/document configurations including at least a 1-file/1-document configuration, a 1-file/multi-documents configuration, and a multi-files/1-document configuration, and wherein the 1-file/1-document configuration indicates that one single document is configured with one single file, the 1-file/multi-documents configuration indicates that multiple documents are configured with one single file, and the multi-files/1-document configuration indicates that one single document is configured with multiple files; a receiving unit configured to receive an instruction indicating an operation to a document file; an analysis unit configured to analyze the instruction received by the receiving unit to determine a document file to be operated, and to determine a schema that conforms to said determined document file from the plurality of schemas stored in the storage device; a specifying unit configured to specify a management unit of the determined document file as one of the plurality of predetermined file/document configurations by acquiring from the storage device the management-unit-information that is set in advance for the schema that is determined to conform to the determined document file; a create/update unit configured to create or update document management data for processing the document file as the management unit specified by the specifying unit, wherein updating the document management data effects change of the management unit by which the document file is processed; a hold unit configured to hold the document management data; and a control unit configured to control, during processing of the document file, the management unit of the document file as one of the plurality of predetermined file/document configurations based on the document management data held in the hold unit wherein the instruction indicating an operation to the document file indicates an operation to move the document file among a plurality of management areas including a management area to which predetermined users can access and a management area to which all users can access; wherein the management-unit-information indicates the management unit of the document file for each of the management areas; and wherein the specifying unit specifies the management unit of the determined document file based on the instruction, and the management-unit-information acquired from the storage device for the schema that is determined to conform by the analysis unit.