def readSelected(): clipBoardInstance = Clipboard(from_system=True) # make a temporary clipboard, with the message didn't found selected text, and clone it to system. temporary = Clipboard({Clipboard.format_unicode: u"didn't found selected text."}) temporary.copy_to_system() # copy new text to this set clipboard. If no text selected the text "didn't found selected text." remains on clipboard Key("c-c/25").execute() text = Clipboard(from_system=True).get_text() sayOutLoud(text.encode('utf8')) # set the first obtained clipboard back to the system. clipBoardInstance.copy_to_system()