Microsoft Outlook Global Outage Disrupts Users in 74 Countries
Microsoft has been hit by a major global outage that disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services, leaving thousands of users unable to access essential digital tools.
The disruption began on Thursday, November 12, 2026, and extended into Friday, November 13, affecting users across 74 countries and territories, according to outage-tracking platform Downdetector.
Many Outlook users reported difficulties accessing their inboxes, sending emails and receiving messages, while others experienced problems loading the service altogether.
At the peak of the disruption, Downdetector recorded nearly 130,000 reports of Outlook problems in the United States alone. Other Microsoft platforms, including Teams and Copilot, also experienced widespread connectivity issues.
Microsoft Explains Cause of Global Outage
Microsoft attributed the disruption to elevated traffic and infrastructure problems affecting its systems across multiple regions.
The company said some of its servers had become unexpectedly unavailable after failing automated health checks, resulting in connectivity errors for users trying to access its services.
Microsoft began implementing recovery measures, including restarting affected servers, redirecting traffic and making adjustments to its infrastructure.
However, the company later acknowledged that some recovery efforts were not progressing as expected, as certain servers became unresponsive again when traffic returned.
Microsoft said it was exploring alternative solutions to increase system capacity and restore services. It also stated that there was no indication that the incident was caused by a cyberattack.
Businesses and Government Operations Affected
The outage disrupted businesses and organisations that depend on Microsoft’s cloud-based services for communication, scheduling and daily operations.
Some government operations were also affected, including systems in Japan. Japanese government officials confirmed that they were monitoring the situation after the disruption affected parts of the country’s information technology infrastructure.
Other organisations reported difficulties accessing email and workplace communication platforms, highlighting how heavily businesses and public institutions rely on Microsoft’s digital services.
Microsoft Begins Restoring Affected Services
As the company continued its recovery efforts, Microsoft reported some progress in restoring affected services.
Teams had been restored in North America earlier in the disruption, although some users continued experiencing connectivity problems. Other Microsoft 365 services remained affected as engineers worked to bring the remaining servers back online.
The company also warned that restoring services was taking longer than expected because of persistent infrastructure challenges.
The incident has raised concerns about the reliability of cloud-based services, particularly for organisations that depend on a single technology provider for essential communication and business operations.
As recovery efforts continue, Microsoft faces the challenge of restoring normal operations across all affected regions while preventing further disruptions.
