A method involves managing electronic documents (EDs). The method includes receiving a first request to convert an original ED including a visible object from a first format to a second format; extracting, in response to the first request, multiple attributes in the original ED specifying the visible object and required to restore the visible object in the first format; generating, by converting the original ED from the first format to the second format, a converted ED including rendering data of the visible object that is grammatically native to the second format and that is necessary to render the visible object from the second format; and embedding the attributes extracted from the original ED into metadata of the converted ED.