Inserting a graphical symbol into a print stream for a document file that does not include the graphical symbol

A networked computer system comprising:

• a first computer system comprising:
• a first processor;
• a first memory coupled to the first processor;
• a printed document client residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the printed document client detecting a print event for a soft copy document, and in response, generating a graphical postmark from print event data corresponding to the print event, wherein the soft copy document does not include the graphical postmark, the printed document client receiving a first print stream that does not include the graphical postmark and adding the graphical postmark to the first print stream to generate a second print stream that includes the graphical postmark and sending the second print stream to a printer so the graphical postmark is printed on a printed document corresponding to the soft copy document that does not include the graphical postmark, wherein the graphical postmark comprises an eye-legible portion and a machine-readable portion that is not eye-legible;
• a second computer system coupled via network connection to the first computer system, the second computer system comprising:
• a second processor;
• a second memory coupled to the second processor;
• and
• a plurality of documents in a document repository;
• a third computer system coupled via network connection to the first and second computer systems, the third computer system comprising:
• a third processor;
• a third memory coupled to the third processor;
• and
• a printed document store residing in the third memory, wherein the printed document client stores the printed document by sending a metadata/image pair corresponding to the printed document to the printed document store, wherein metadata in the metadata/image pair includes at least one attribute that describes the printed document and an image in the metadata/image pair is an image of the printed document;
• a postmark server residing in the third memory and executed by the third processor, the postmark server receiving a scanned graphical postmark and, in response, identifying a printed document in the printed document store corresponding to the scanned graphical postmark, and performing at least one:
• indicating whether the printed document corresponding to the scanned graphical postmark is current;
• returning the printed document in the printed document store corresponding to the scanned graphical postmark;
• retrieving a soft copy document corresponding to the scanned graphical postmark from the document repository;
• and
• returning the soft copy document corresponding to the scanned graphical postmark.

A computer-implemented method executed by at least one processor for managing printed documents, the method comprising:

• detecting a print event for a soft copy document;
• in response to detecting the print event:
• generating a graphical postmark from print event data corresponding to the print event, wherein the soft copy document does not include the graphical postmark;
• receiving a first print stream that does not include the graphical postmark;
• adding the graphical postmark to the first print stream to generate a second print stream that includes the graphical postmark;
• and
• sending the second print stream to a printer so the graphical postmark is printed on a printed document corresponding to the soft copy document that does not include the graphical postmark.