Abstract: Users in a centralized document repository system must obtain valid copies of documents from a central server rather than obtaining the documents from another user. Since a valid document must be obtained from the server, the server can control access to the document, in particular by assigning a name to each copy of the document. The name is independent of the content and location of the document, but serves to authenticate the document and its lineage. In one embodiment, users must log onto the server and are assigned user specific authcodes that are used in a document name to identify a user who created or modified a document. In another embodiment, the server controls version numbers that are part of a document name and serve to indicate the version or copy of the document. In still other embodiments, users may enter information that becomes part of a document name.