An information processing apparatus including a plurality of installed application programs activates, when a first application program is executed for using data, a second application program used to obtain the data from an external apparatus. A process of connection to the external apparatus is executed by executing the second application program, and a data format and attribute information stored in the external apparatus are obtained from the external apparatus by executing the second application program. The attribute information on data stored in the external apparatus is displayed on a screen of the second application program such that a result of a determination as to whether the data is usable by the first application program is recognizable based on a format stored in the memory and a format obtained from the external apparatus by executing the second application program.