diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03c3d59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+_pandocdiff="pandoc -t plain"
+_catdocdiff="catdoc"
+
+if [ "$(git config diff.pandocdiff.textconv)" != "$_pandocdiff" ]; then
+    git config diff.pandocdiff.textconv "$_pandocdiff"
+fi
+
+if [ "$(git config diff.catdocdiff.textconv)" != "$_catdocdiff" ]; then
+    git config diff.catdocdiff.textconv "$_catdocdiff"
+fi
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55ba1cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# diffing binary blobs
+*.docx diff=pandocdiff
+*.doc diff=catdocdiff