1. An electronic document generating apparatus comprising: a generating unit that assigns a value to a variable area in a source electronic document for defining a format, to newly generate an electronic document; and a setting unit that establishes, independently of the generated electronic document, security policy information which defines an operation right to the generated electronic document, on the basis of security policy information associated with the source electronic document and defining an operation right-to the source electronic document, and associates the established security policy information with the generated electronic document.