Answer:
FORMAL COMPILATION Of Holy Quran AS a "BOOK"
After the Prophet's death, the community chose Abu Bakr as their temporal chief, the Khalifah of the Messenger, the Caliph. About a year later, a large number of those known as authoritative memorizers were killed in a battle. According to authentic Hadith literature, `Umar Ibn al Khattab (who became the second Caliph) was alarmed by this and concerned that the next generation may not have enough teachers of the Qur'an. He, therefore, approached Abu Bakr, and suggested that a formal compilation of the Qur'an be prepared on materials that would be convenient to store, maintained, and used as a reference. According to the Hadith literature, Abu Bakr was reluctant to do some thing the Prophet himself had not undertaken. After a few days, however, he "became inclined" to the idea and asked Zayd to undertake the task. Zayd says he also hesitated but, after contemplation, also "became inclined" and agreed to undertake the work. A committee was formed to do the job. They compiled a collection by checking and double checking each Ayah of the existing record of the Qur'an with the memories of each member of the committee as well as of the other prominent experts. This copy was housed with the Prophet's wife Hafsa. (She was a daughter of `Umar ibn al Khattab).
By the time of the third Caliph, `Uthman ibn `Affan, the Muslim population had spread over vast areas out side the core Arab regions and many people of other cultures were entering Islam. About 15 years after the first compilation, therefore, it was suggested that authenticated copies of the Qur'an be made available to major population centers in those areas. Zayd again was instructed to undertake the task. He again formed a committee. Instead of just making copies of the existing text, they decided to seek corroboration of each Ayah in the earlier compilation with at least two other written records in the private copies in the possession of known reputable individuals. It is reported that this comparison was successful for all Ayahs except one. For this Ayah, only one comparison could be found. But it was in the hands of a person who was considered so reliable by the Prophet himself that his lone testimony was accepted by the Prophet in a case requiring two witnesses. it is reported that, 7 copies of the collection were prepared and authenticated. One of these copies was given to the Caliph himself. One became the reference copy for the people of Madinah, one was sent to Makkah, one to Kufah, and one to Damascus. (I was unable to find references to the destination of the other copies).
We should mention that the committee, while doing its work, confirmed the general observation that all private copies were incomplete, some were out of sequence, some were in tribal dialects other than the standard Quraish dialect, and many had marginal notes inserted by the owners. They expressed concern that as time passes the context of these deficiencies will be lost. These partial copies may get into public circulation after the death of the owners of these records and become a source of schisms and create confusion. They, therefore, recommended that all such copies be destroyed. The Caliph issued orders to that effect but did not put in place any mechanisms for enforcing the orders. There is sufficient evidence that some people kept their copies and some were used by mischief makers to create controversies that did not succeed.
Those Authentic copies of the Qur'an are known as the "`Uthmani" text. This text, however, did not have the short vowels that are even today left out of Arabic text used by those who know the language. In the absence of these short vowels, however, those not well versed in the language can make serious mistakes. These vowels were, therefore, inserted about 60 years later under instructions of the governor of Kufa, named Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf.