According to the present invention, internal print settings of a document are handed over to hot folder settings. A hot folder manager 200 stores handover settings in the XPS performance settings 216 and stores print settings in PT data 217 and JDF data 218. On receipt of an input XPS document, the hot folder manager consults the handover settings, reads values of specified items from the internal print settings recorded in a print ticket of the XPS document, and merges the specified items with external print settings stored in the PT data 217 or the JDF data 218. The new print settings resulting from the merge are appended to document data in a specified output format, and transmitted to a print device 103.