1. A method for abstracting and archiving a document in machine readable form comprising the steps of: (a) storing a dictionary of language terms commonly used in document preparation; (b) appending codes to the language terms in said dictionary of language terms to identify selected parts of speech; (c) comparing the language terms in an input document with the stored dictionary of language terms; (d) selecting language terms from said input document which do not compare to the stored dictionary of language terms; (e) selecting language terms from said input document which compare with language terms in said stored dictionary of language terms identified as selected parts of speech; (f) coding the selected language terms with the identity of the input document; and (g) storing the selected language terms for later recall.