diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 39f5884..d8810f1 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -31,3 +31,5 @@ Imports:
     utils,
     httr
 RoxygenNote: 6.0.1.9000
+SystemRequirements: LibreOffice (<https://www.libreoffice.org/>) required to extract 
+    data from .doc files.
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 0d1b0c3..e035672 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ export(docx_extract_tbl)
 export(docx_tbl_count)
 export(mcga)
 export(read_docx)
+export(set_libreoffice_path)
 importFrom(dplyr,arrange)
 importFrom(dplyr,bind_cols)
 importFrom(dplyr,count)
diff --git a/R/read_docs.r b/R/read_docs.r
index be64791..bde8839 100644
--- a/R/read_docs.r
+++ b/R/read_docs.r
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #' Read in a Word document for table extraction
 #'
-#' Local file path or URL pointing to a \code{.docx} file.
+#' Local file path or URL pointing to a \code{.docx} file. Can also take
+#' \code{.doc} file as input if \code{LibreOffice} is installed
+#' (see \url{https://www.libreoffice.org/} for more info and to download).
 #'
 #' @param path path to the Word document
 #' @importFrom xml2 read_xml
@@ -15,24 +17,66 @@
 #' }
 read_docx <- function(path) {
 
+  stopifnot(is.character(path))
+
   # make temporary things for us to work with
   tmpd <- tempdir()
   tmpf <- tempfile(tmpdir=tmpd, fileext=".zip")
 
+  # Check to see if input is a .doc file
+  is_input_doc <- is_doc(path)
+
+  # If input is a .doc file, create a temp .doc file
+  if (is_input_doc) {
+    tmpf_doc <- tempfile(tmpdir = tmpd, fileext = ".doc")
+    tmpf_docx <- gsub("\\.doc$", ".docx", tmpf_doc)
+  } else {
+    tmpf_doc <- NULL
+    tmpf_docx <- NULL
+  }
+
   on.exit({ #cleanup
     unlink(tmpf)
+    unlink(tmpf_doc)
+    unlink(tmpf_docx)
     unlink(sprintf("%s/docdata", tmpd), recursive=TRUE)
   })
 
   if (is_url(path)) {
-    res <- httr::GET(path, write_disk(tmpf))
-    httr::stop_for_status(res)
+    if (is_input_doc) {
+      # If input is a url pointing to a .doc file, write file to disk
+      res <- httr::GET(path, write_disk(tmpf_doc))
+      httr::stop_for_status(res)
+
+      # Save .doc file as a .docx file using LibreOffice command-line tools.
+      convert_doc_to_docx(tmpd, tmpf_doc)
+
+      # copy output of LibreOffice to zip (not entirely necessary)
+      file_copy(tmpf_docx, tmpf)
+    } else {
+      # If input is a url pointing to a .docx file, write file to disk
+      res <- httr::GET(path, write_disk(tmpf))
+      httr::stop_for_status(res)
+    }
   } else {
     path <- path.expand(path)
     if (!file.exists(path)) stop(sprintf("Cannot find '%s'", path), call.=FALSE)
-    # copy docx to zip (not entirely necessary)
-    file.copy(path, tmpf)
+
+    # If input is a .doc file, save it as a .docx file using LibreOffice
+    # command-line tools.
+    if (is_input_doc) {
+      file_copy(path, tmpf_doc)
+      convert_doc_to_docx(tmpd, tmpf_doc)
+
+      # copy output of LibreOffice to zip (not entirely necessary)
+      file_copy(tmpf_docx, tmpf)
+    } else {
+      # Otherwise, if input is a .docx file, just copy docx to zip
+      # (not entirely necessary)
+      file_copy(path, tmpf)
+    }
   }
+
   # unzip it
   unzip(tmpf, exdir=sprintf("%s/docdata", tmpd))
 
diff --git a/R/utils.r b/R/utils.r
index df2275c..4ed09c1 100644
--- a/R/utils.r
+++ b/R/utils.r
@@ -32,3 +32,54 @@ has_header <- function(tbl, rows, ns) {
 is_url <- function(path) { grepl("^(http|ftp)s?://", path) }
 
 is_docx <- function(path) { tolower(tools::file_ext(path)) == "docx" }
+
+is_doc <- function(path) { tolower(tools::file_ext(path)) == "doc" }
+
+# Copy a file to a new location, throw an error if the copy fails.
+file_copy <- function(from, to) {
+  fc <- file.copy(from, to)
+  if (!fc) stop(sprintf("file copy failure for file %s", from), call.=FALSE)
+}
+
+# Save a .doc file as a new .docx file, using the LibreOffice command line
+# tools.
+convert_doc_to_docx <- function(docx_dir, doc_file) {
+  lo_path <- getOption("path_to_libreoffice")
+  if (is.null(lo_path)) {
+    stop("Cannot determine file path to LibreOffice. ",
+         "To download LibreOffice, visit: https://www.libreoffice.org/ \n",
+         "If you've already downloaded the software, use function ",
+         "'set_libreoffice_path()' to point R to your local 'soffice.exe' file",
+         call. = FALSE)
+  }
+  cmd <- sprintf('"%s" -convert-to docx:"MS Word 2007 XML" -headless -outdir "%s" "%s"',
+                 lo_path,
+                 docx_dir,
+                 doc_file)
+  system(cmd, show.output.on.console = FALSE)
+}
+
+
+#' Point to Local soffice.exe File
+#'
+#' Function to set an option that points to the local LibreOffice file
+#' \code{soffice.exe}.
+#'
+#' @param path
+#'
+#' @details For a list of possible file path locations for \code{soffice.exe},
+#'  see \url{https://github.com/hrbrmstr/docxtractr/issues/5#issuecomment-233181976}
+#'
+#' @return Returns nothing, function sets the option variable
+#'  \code{path_to_libreoffice}.
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @examples \dontrun{
+#' set_libreoffice_path("local/path/to/soffice.exe")
+#' }
+set_libreoffice_path <- function(path) {
+  stopifnot(is.character(path))
+
+  if (!file.exists(path)) stop(sprintf("Cannot find '%s'", path), call.=FALSE)
+  options("path_to_libreoffice" = path)
+}
diff --git a/man/read_docx.Rd b/man/read_docx.Rd
index e9a64ca..52211e6 100644
--- a/man/read_docx.Rd
+++ b/man/read_docx.Rd
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ read_docx(path)
 \item{path}{path to the Word document}
 }
 \description{
-Local file path or URL pointing to a \code{.docx} file.
+Local file path or URL pointing to a \code{.docx} file. Can also take
+\code{.doc} file as input if \code{LibreOffice} is installed
+(see \url{https://www.libreoffice.org/} for more info and to download).
 }
 \examples{
 doc <- read_docx(system.file("examples/data.docx", package="docxtractr"))
diff --git a/man/set_libreoffice_path.Rd b/man/set_libreoffice_path.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f95ef45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/set_libreoffice_path.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/utils.r
+\name{set_libreoffice_path}
+\alias{set_libreoffice_path}
+\title{Point to Local soffice.exe File}
+\usage{
+set_libreoffice_path(path)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{path}{}
+}
+\value{
+Returns nothing, function sets the option variable
+ \code{path_to_libreoffice}.
+}
+\description{
+Function to set an option that points to the local LibreOffice file
+\code{soffice.exe}.
+}
+\details{
+For a list of possible file path locations for \code{soffice.exe},
+ see \url{https://github.com/hrbrmstr/docxtractr/issues/5#issuecomment-233181976}
+}
+\examples{
+\dontrun{
+set_libreoffice_path("local/path/to/soffice.exe")
+}
+}