An image reading apparatus includes an image reader, a storage unit, and a control unit, wherein the storage unit includes a command storage unit, and the control unit includes a mark detecting unit that detects at least one mark matching the characteristic information of the mark from the margin of the manuscript read by the image reader to acquire the characteristic information of the detected mark, a positional information determining unit that detects coordinates of the mark in the manuscript to determine the positional information corresponding to the detected coordinates, a command searching unit that searches the command storage unit for the command associated with the characteristic information and the positional information using the characteristic information and the positional information as search keys, and a command executing unit that executes the processing specified for the command searched for on the manuscript.