TECHNOLOGY · GLOBAL OUTAGE
Microsoft said late on Thursday 12 November, US Eastern time (early Friday GMT), that a change it had applied to fix a global Outlook email outage was “not taking as expected”. Many users worldwide lost email access after the trouble began on Thursday.
Downdetector, a site that tracks user problem reports, logged nearly 130,000 Outlook reports shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern (18:00 GMT) on Thursday. Those are user reports rather than a count of affected users, so the true number is unknown.
Key Facts
- Who Microsoft, the US software company behind Outlook email, Teams (chat and meetings) and the Copilot AI assistant.
- What A global Outlook outage since Thursday 12 November; Microsoft says a change it applied was not taking as expected.
- Scale Downdetector logged nearly 130,000 Outlook problem reports shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.
- Cause Microsoft pointed to unavailable servers and elevated load on the rest of its infrastructure.
- Security Microsoft has not blamed an attack, and no cyberattack has been alleged.
What Microsoft Says
In a status update on X, the social network, Microsoft said it was identifying “alternate workstreams” to increase capacity. It had earlier pointed to unavailable servers and elevated load on the rest of its infrastructure.
Microsoft said it paused deployments, meaning new software releases, and moved extra traffic off the affected infrastructure. It also restarted affected servers.
Who Is Affected
Outlook, Teams and Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant, were among the services hit in the Microsoft 365 bundle of office software. Microsoft’s first update referred to Exchange Online, its cloud email servers, in the Americas and warned that users in any region could be affected.
Microsoft reported limited recovery on Thursday evening. It has given no time for full service.
What It Means for You
Outlook is the email service many US companies run through Microsoft 365, so an outage can delay messages and calendar invitations. Teams and Copilot problems can slow meetings and AI-assisted work at the same time.
If your email is down, check Microsoft’s service health page and use a second channel, such as a phone call, for urgent messages. Microsoft has not given a time for full recovery, so plan for further delays.
What Is Not Known
Microsoft has not given a time for full recovery or published a full post-incident report. Downdetector counts user reports rather than affected users, so how many people remain without email is unknown.
What to Watch
Watch Microsoft’s 365 status account on X for the next update on the capacity work. Also watch whether the company publishes a written account of the cause once service is restored.
Related coverage includes our reports on an AI lab in Uruguay that works with Microsoft, the reported US$11 billion raise by OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT and Argentina’s adoption of a US telecom security rule. They give background on the AI and network industries.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Microsoft say about the Outlook outage?
Microsoft said a change it applied was “not taking as expected” and that it was looking for alternate ways to add capacity. It pointed to unavailable servers and elevated load on the rest of its infrastructure.
How big was the Outlook outage?
Downdetector logged nearly 130,000 Outlook problem reports shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday 12 November. Those are user reports, not a count of affected users.
Was the Outlook outage a cyberattack?
Microsoft has not blamed an attack, and no cyberattack has been alleged. It pointed to unavailable servers and elevated load on the rest of its infrastructure.
Sources: Microsoft, statements on X, 12 and 13 November 2026; Downdetector, user problem reports, 12 November 2026.
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