Microsoft Outlook outage appears widespread

Microsoft Outlook is experiencing a widespread outage, 9to5Mac said on 12 November. The outlet said its service checks showed the email outage was ongoing and that it appeared to have begun about an hour before its report.

9to5Mac also cited more than 100,000 Outlook outage reports on Downdetector that day. The figure counts reports, not verified individual users.

The cause and the time when service will be restored remain unknown.

Latest · 13 November 2026

Microsoft says unexpectedly unavailable servers, rather than increased traffic, are straining its remaining infrastructure and causing elevated load, Variety reported. The company has paused all deployments, is moving additional traffic away from the affected infrastructure and is restarting affected servers as it works to return them safely to service. Microsoft has not provided an estimated restoration time.

Microsoft says users in any region could be affected by connectivity problems across several services, BleepingComputer reported. In a Microsoft 365 admin center advisory, the company said customers may be unable to connect to Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Defender XDR. It had initially reported Exchange Online connectivity problems in the Americas. Downdetector also recorded a surge in user-submitted complaints about Outlook and other Microsoft services; those reports are separate from the company’s confirmed service-impact list.

Microsoft said unavailable servers were failing automatic health checks, putting pressure on those still operating, Al Jazeera reported. The company said it was testing a configuration change to redistribute traffic across parts of its infrastructure and restarting affected services. Outlook problem reports on Downdetector had fallen to about 77,000 from an earlier peak; the figure counts reports, not confirmed affected users.

Microsoft says an alternative health-check method returned some affected servers to service and is being applied more broadly, The Guardian reported. The recovery is partial, not a full restoration. The company identified configuration updates as a potential cause but is still investigating, and is preparing an automated process to detect and restart unresponsive servers. Downdetector showed nearly 130,000 reports of Microsoft 365 problems, including access to Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive; the figure counts reports, not verified affected users.

Outlook problem reports on Downdetector have fallen to about 50,000, CNA reported. The figure counts reports, not verified affected users, and the decline does not establish that service has been restored.

Microsoft says its measures have not provided the expected relief from the Microsoft 365 outage affecting Outlook and Teams, The Guardian reported. The company says a core process on affected servers is becoming overwhelmed, leaving them unresponsive. It is testing a recovery approach that fully isolates part of its infrastructure, restarts affected components and gradually reintroduces traffic to check stability. Microsoft is also assessing whether reversing recent configuration updates could speed recovery and whether isolating traffic by region could let affected regions recover independently.

The outage disrupted work at media offices, The Hollywood Reporter reported. A newsroom staffer told the outlet that programming and newsgathering continued, but conversations moved to Slack and text chains. At a midtown Manhattan media office, an employee said colleagues went home early after concluding the services would not return soon.

The outage also left administrators unable to access Intune and the Microsoft 365 Apps Admin Center as they tried to investigate the disruption, The Register reported. Defender for Office 365 was among the services made unavailable. Microsoft said its early investigation indicated that failed server health checks might originate from a component responsible for processing server health, according to the outlet.

Microsoft says some affected servers have returned to service and remain stable, and that shifting traffic and connections to alternative pathways has brought limited recovery in some regions, The Guardian reported. The company says it has streamlined the recovery process and introduced protective traffic management to reduce the load on affected servers. The recovery is not complete. OpenAI and Anthropic also reported that the outage was affecting the Microsoft 365 connector linking ChatGPT and Claude to Microsoft services.

Australia’s intelligence agency and federal police were among the organisations affected by the Microsoft outage, CNA reported, citing their leaders. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government had activated an existing agreement with Microsoft to prioritise the restoration of services for Australian interests; he also said Microsoft had told him it did not believe the outage was caused by a cyberattack. Microsoft warned that some restored services could become unresponsive again, the BBC reported.

Microsoft says its latest efforts to restore services did not work as expected, despite earlier progress, CNA reported. The outlet said the outage affecting Outlook and other Microsoft applications had lasted 9 hours.

The outage spread to 74 countries and territories within an hour, according to Downdetector, France 24 reported with AFP. Outlook problem reports on the tracker later fell to about 37,000; the figure counts reports, not verified affected users, and the decline does not establish that service was fully restored.

The Microsoft outage affected some government systems in Singapore, including email, CNA reported, as disruptions to Outlook and other applications stretched beyond 10 hours. GovTech said it was working with Microsoft to restore services, while emergency services remained fully operational and Singpass was unaffected.

Electric truck maker Workhorse Group postponed its third-quarter results from 12 November to 16 November, citing business disruptions caused by the global Microsoft outage, the BBC reported. OpenAI said it was investigating an issue affecting its connections to Microsoft services that had caused some tools not to work as expected.

In Australia, Service NSW said some transactions at its service and call centres were unavailable during the Microsoft outage, The Guardian reported. It urged customers to delay visits or transact online where possible and introduced priority callbacks for people unable to complete urgent transactions. School administration platform Schoolbytes temporarily lost access to email, while courts in South Australia and Victoria reported email problems; Victoria’s county court expected scheduled hearings to proceed. The Australian Medical Association said it had received reports of clerical problems at some hospitals and clinics but no impact on patient care. Its president, Michael Bonning, said some facilities had returned to paper prescriptions because access to prescribing software required verification through Microsoft-supported email.

New Zealand’s foreign ministry said the Microsoft outage had affected its ability to receive email, including at all New Zealand embassies, consulates and representative offices worldwide, France 24 reported with AFP. Microsoft said it was identifying alternative approaches to increase capacity after confirming that its attempted fixes were not working as expected; it gave no estimate for full restoration.

Microsoft says its latest server adjustments brought partial recovery in some regions but did not produce sustained recovery, CNA reported. The company said it was not aware of malicious activity causing the outage. Microsoft’s service notice said Microsoft 365 features dependent on Exchange Online and email were affected, while elements not reliant on Exchange Online remained functional. CNA reported that the outage had lasted about 12 hours.

Microsoft says its efforts to restore services have had only marginal success, The Guardian reported. The company is checking server performance and whether patches are working after infrastructure reboots, while scaling up virtual machines to increase capacity and reduce load. It says some machines remain stuck in a bad state, preventing a recent network change from syncing as expected. Full service has not been restored.

Some servers restarted by Microsoft stopped responding again when traffic returned, DW reported. Outlook problem reports on Downdetector peaked globally at nearly 140,000, according to the BBC; the figure counts reports, not verified affected users. The BBC said access varied: many customers could not send or receive email or view some files and calendar details, while some could still use Teams messaging and online meetings. The exact cause remains unconfirmed.

Microsoft says a patch to an authentication and routing configuration component has produced positive results for server stability on part of its infrastructure, The Guardian reported. The company is monitoring progress and working to extend the patch, but Microsoft 365 business and enterprise services and consumer products remain degraded. In Japan, digital minister Toshiharu Furukawa said government email was unavailable and officials would temporarily use alternatives including text messaging. Sagawa Express said it could not accept online reservations for its luggage service at airports and train stations, while pharmaceutical company Taisho was handling orders by phone.

Downdetector recorded more than 18,000 reports of Outlook problems in the United States, CNA reported. The figure counts reports, not verified affected users, and does not establish that service has been restored.

The outage disrupted health and police services in Britain, The Guardian reported. Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust said Outlook and Teams were affected and asked patients to call their usual service because emails might not be received. NHS Grampian said the outage affected some GP practices’ access to Hosted Vision, though phone lines and other systems worked. Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust said appointments should not be affected and asked patients to attend as planned. Dorset Police said it could not receive online forms and directed time-critical non-emergency reports to 101 and emergencies to 999; Dyfed-Powys Police also reported problems receiving website reports and emails. A UK government spokesperson said officials were working with Microsoft to assess any impact on government services. Japan’s government confirmed that a shared network used by its digital agency to send information to ministries and other official bodies had been disrupted.

In Britain, some GP practices urged patients not to send messages through their websites during the Microsoft outage, the BBC reported. The National Pharmacy Association said the disruption was affecting pharmacies’ communications with practices and some patients, warning of longer waits and possible prescription delays. Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester Police and North Yorkshire Police said online reporting forms might be affected and urged people to call 101 for time-critical, non-emergency reports. MPs could not access their parliamentary accounts, though a spokesperson said alternative arrangements allowed business to proceed. Heathrow, Manchester and Stansted airports continued operating as usual.

Microsoft says recovery is showing early signs of stabilization and gradual improvement, but service health remains variable and capacity has not returned to normal as traffic is reintroduced, The Guardian reported. Engineers are removing traffic from affected infrastructure, restarting and repairing it, then returning it to service in stages. The company is extending the email timeout window to 48 hours to help protect delayed messages. GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said workers in 111 and 999 services could not refer patient details normally, creating a large backlog, though emergency and life-threatening call-outs appeared unaffected. NHS Alliance chief executive Sir Ciarán Devane said some NHS services, notably email access, were affected, but clinical and operational systems appeared to be working effectively.

NHS sources told The Guardian that staff were unable to access email and IT systems used to deliver healthcare, describing the disruption as widespread and serious. Pharmacy sources said lost email access was hampering communication with some GP surgeries about prescriptions and significantly increasing patients’ waits for medicines. Schools across the UK were also affected, the BBC reported. Al Jazeera reported that Outlook’s desktop version may still display previously downloaded emails and that Microsoft was rolling back a network change, though it had not said whether the change caused the outage.

The outage affecting Outlook, Teams and Copilot stretched beyond 15 hours, disrupting business and government communications worldwide, CNA reported. Immigration New Zealand said it had paused processing all visa applications until further notice. Euronext said its listing teams were having email problems, while shipping company Maersk warned customers of delays to emails and updates. Insurer Aviva said it was preparing backup plans for earnings calls, and Richemont briefly delayed its first-half results announcement. An unnamed source told Reuters that a Taiwanese financial company used fax to confirm trades, CNA reported.

The outage disrupted school inspections in England after Ofsted said it could not receive emails, The Guardian reported. Ofsted directed urgent matters to online forms or telephone lines. The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority were also affected, although a Bank spokesperson said all critical operations were running normally. National Rail warned that passengers might be unable to access emailed tickets or receive email alerts and suggested checking the retailer’s website or app. Oxford University said Outlook was unavailable, while Manchester University advised staff and students to use alternative contact methods and save documents locally.

Microsoft says recovery actions have been completed across parts of the affected infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, with traffic gradually being restored and improvements in mailbox access and delayed email processing, The Guardian reported. Some users may still experience intermittent problems, and Microsoft is extending recovery efforts to other regions. NHS England said staff were using paper patient records or alternative IT systems under longstanding contingency measures to keep critical services and appointments running. It urged patients to attend appointments unless told otherwise, call 999 in emergencies, and otherwise use 111, 111 online or their local pharmacy. National Rail advised passengers unable to access tickets to ask onboard or station staff for help. Police forces in Northampton, Hertfordshire and South Wales also reported that their systems were affected.

Police Scotland warned that responses to forms submitted in the preceding 24 hours could be delayed, the BBC reported. South Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys Police asked people to call if they needed to get in touch. In Canada, Unity Health Toronto said its teams were having trouble sending and receiving email, but patient care was unaffected.

NHS Tayside said some GP practices were having difficulty receiving test results, processing prescription requests and using messaging systems during the Microsoft outage, The Guardian reported. Core clinical systems remained available for accessing patient records, making referrals and ordering tests. A spokesperson for Germany’s digital ministry said there had been no reports of major outages in the federal administration, the outlet reported via Reuters.

Microsoft says service availability and email delivery are improving across a growing portion of affected Microsoft 365 infrastructure in Europe, The Guardian reported. Japan remains comparatively more stable and North America is also improving, but some users may still experience intermittent problems as recovery continues. In England, exam regulator Ofqual said its complaints service was not functioning and it could not receive complaints, whistleblowing or malpractice submissions. It directed urgent inquiries to telephone.

The Outlook and Exchange email outage has continued for more than 18 hours, Variety reported. Microsoft says recovery actions are complete across parts of the affected Asia-Pacific infrastructure, with traffic gradually returning and mailbox access and delayed email processing improving, although intermittent problems remain possible. Reducing email queues and backlogs remains a priority. In the UK, some schools asked parents to report attendance or absences by phone because email and Teams were unavailable, The Guardian reported. Courts from Los Angeles to Texas warned that communications could be delayed, according to the BBC.

DBS, UOB and OCBC were among the Singapore banks reporting email problems during the Microsoft outage, CNA reported.

Some UK doctors told The Guardian their email access was returning after disruption during the Microsoft outage, though the reports did not establish full restoration. Microsoft said most core Teams functions, including calls, meetings and chats, were unaffected, but calendar functions dependent on Exchange Online experienced failures. A Kent removals company said two customers’ house moves were disrupted and another client’s property exchange was delayed because emails could not be sent. University College London said teaching continued normally despite unavailable email and calendars. In Japan, some workers reportedly turned to fax, Tom’s Hardware reported, citing The Japan Times.

Microsoft says recovery has broadened in North America, continued across much of Europe and shown encouraging signs in Asia-Pacific, The Register reported. Some users may still face intermittent access problems or delayed email as mitigation continues; service has not been fully restored. In England, a nurse in High Wycombe told The Guardian that hospital email was unavailable, preventing urgent messages about cancer referrals and severe diagnoses and slowing the service. A Norfolk teacher said she had to recreate a lesson presentation as a PDF and use WhatsApp to contact a teaching assistant, while a University of South Wales nursing student said the loss of university email made it difficult to follow coursework and placement arrangements.

The impact on elective treatment remains unconfirmed, the BBC reported, citing anecdotal accounts of cancelled caesarean sections and restrictions on referrals. The City of Austin, Texas, said its employees could not send or receive email, but city phone lines and 911 emergency services remained operational. Singapore’s courts directed urgent matters to telephone, while the Philippines’ Supreme Court warned of possible delays to email responses and other transactions. Royal Mail said some online services were unavailable, but collections and deliveries continued normally. Members of the Scottish Parliament said the loss of email prevented them from contacting constituents or accessing urgent casework.

The outage disrupted courts in the UK, with juries in some cases sent home early and some prisoners not brought to court, The Guardian reported. Some NHS staff said they could access Teams on their phones, but meetings were being cancelled.

Singapore Airlines warned that responses to customer emails could be delayed during the outage, while its flight operations and other services were unaffected, CNA reported.

Microsoft says service availability continues to improve and email queues have fallen significantly toward normal levels, though some users may still experience intermittent access problems or delayed delivery as recovery continues, The Guardian reported. Microsoft 365 Education features, including Assignments, Reading Progress and Speaker Progress, may be affected. Microsoft 365 Copilot users may also be unable to load Copilot Chat or receive responses in its web and desktop apps.

The City of Tampa warned that residents and external partners could face delays or failures when sending email to city accounts or receiving messages from them during the Microsoft outage, The Guardian reported. City offices remained open on normal schedules, and walk-in services, phone lines and emergency operations were fully operational. Based on vendor guidance, the city anticipated full service restoration within 48 hours; that was its forecast, not a Microsoft-wide recovery deadline. Microsoft also said Teams users faced failures creating live or virtual events, navigating to app chats, and adding or syncing contacts. Standard channels were working, but users might be unable to create or delete private or shared channels.

The Microsoft outage has lasted more than 20 hours, although Outlook appears to be working again for some users, the BBC reported. Microsoft said recovery was progressing in Europe and North America, but warned that some users could still experience intermittent problems as work continues. Service has not been fully restored.

Latest · 12 November 2026

Microsoft says elevated load on part of its infrastructure across multiple regions is likely contributing to connectivity errors, Variety reported. The company has begun redistributing connection traffic across its worldwide infrastructure and is examining an unexpected increase in a type of service traffic. Microsoft is also investigating problems accessing Exchange Online mailboxes in the Americas; Variety reported that Teams, SharePoint Online and Copilot 365 were affected as well. Downdetector recorded more than 130,000 Outlook issue reports, CNA reported; the figure is not a verified count of affected users.