Microsoft 365 users worldwide faced widespread service disruptions as an outage affected Outlook, Teams, Copilot and several other Microsoft services.
The disruption began late Thursday, November 12, with users reporting problems accessing emails and other workplace tools. Microsoft confirmed that the issue could affect customers across multiple regions.
Which Microsoft Services Were Affected?
The outage primarily affected Exchange Online, Microsoft’s cloud-based email service powering Outlook.
Users experienced difficulties opening mailboxes through Outlook on the web, desktop applications and mobile email apps. Some also faced delayed email delivery and connection errors.
Other potentially affected services included:
- Microsoft Teams
- SharePoint Online
- Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Microsoft Defender XDR
- Microsoft Planner
- Microsoft To Do
Some Teams features relying on Exchange Online also experienced problems. However, core messaging and online meetings remained largely functional.
What Caused the Outage?
Microsoft attributed the disruption to infrastructure problems across multiple regions.
The company initially reported elevated server loads. Its investigation later found that numerous servers were unexpectedly becoming unavailable and failing automated health checks.
Microsoft said this caused additional pressure on the remaining infrastructure, contributing to connection failures.
The company paused deployments and configuration changes while investigating the problem. It also restarted affected servers, redirected traffic and introduced temporary restrictions to stabilise its systems.
Users Worldwide Face Disruptions
The outage affected businesses, government agencies and individual users across several countries.
Reuters reported that Downdetector recorded more than 130,000 US reports of Outlook problems at the peak of the disruption.
Users in countries including India, Australia and Japan also reported difficulties.
Microsoft continued working on recovery measures as the disruption extended into Friday. The company had not initially provided a confirmed timeline for full service restoration.
The incident highlights how heavily organisations depend on cloud-based platforms for everyday communication and business operations.
For the latest updates, visit and follow The Truth International website (www.thetruthinternational.com) and subscribe to the YouTube Channel.
