Outlook outage: Microsoft says users report Teams, CoPilot, email issues

Email users in North America reported a spike in issues accessing Microsoft Outlook on Thursday afternoon, leaving thousands of users without access to one of the most widely used email platforms. 

Downdetector, a website that publishes user reports on technology service issues, showed a surge of reports starting around noon and peaking at nearly 130,000 reports around 1:19 p.m. 

The service issue also affected some Microsoft 365 users, the company posted online around 1 p.m. on Thursday. Other user reports on Downdetector showed user issues accessing the company's cloud-based suite of apps, as well as individual applications, such as CoPilot and Teams. 

We've not identified any recent change correlated with the start of impact; however, our investigation indicates the failed health checks may originate from a specific component that's responsible for processing server health. We've taken steps to prevent additional servers from being impacted while we work to return the affected servers to service. More info under EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center, as well as https://t.co/pYdahqxDv3 if the admin center is not available to you.

— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) November 12, 2026

"We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas," an official company account posted on X. 

The company provided frequent technical updates on the X account on Thursday but said at 5:09 p.m. its actions had "not provided the anticipated relief."

On social media, the company directed users to the Microsoft 365 admin center, and advised checking status.cloud.microsoft for users who unable to access the admin center. 

"We're aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact," the Redmond, Washington-based company said at 2:12 p.m. in a post on X. 

The outage highlighted why it's important for businesses to prepare for technology outages that can affect communications with customers and employees, local crisis communication professionals told Newsday. 

That could include creating email addresses on multiple platforms, backing up critical contact information offline and creating protocols for how senior leadership will communicate, said Bill Corbett, president of Corbett Public Relations. 

Long Island businesses that can't send or receive email should notify customers in a prominent place on their website's homepage and use social media accounts to share phone numbers or alternative contact methods, said Jody Fisher, CEO of Jody Fisher PR. 

"When email goes down we suddenly realize how critical it is to our interpersonal and business communication," he said. "People need to have redundant ways of communicating critical information with their audiences."