A system and method are provided for appending element files to a print container in a multifunctional peripheral (MFP) device. The method accepts a first element file and a print container including a second element file. Examples of element files other print containers, fixed documents, application-specific documents, page description language (PDL) documents, extensible markup language (XML) paper specification (XPS) fixed documents, facsimile documents, and scanned documents. The method modifies the print container to include the second element file and the first element file preserved as separate entities, and stores the modified print container in a tangible memory medium.