SYSTEM FOR MAINTAINING A RECORD OF DOCUMENTS INCLUDING DOCUMENT COPIES

A document copy-relationship management system for managing a copy relationship between documents based on document copy operations performed by a document processing device. The system maintains a data base including an ID table for each document recorded in the system according to the identifier of each document and the location and update date and time of each document, and it also maintains a link information table storing data associating the identifier of an original document and its update date and time and the identifier of a copy document and its update date and time. Also, based on copy operations performed by the document processing device, an ID issue routine is executed to provide a new identifier for the copy document, an ID table update routine writes in the ID table according to the newly issued identifier the location and update date and time of the copy document, and a link information table update routine writes in the link information table data associating the identifier of the copy document and its copy date and time and the identifier of the original document and its most recent update date and time.