Microsoft 365 Outage Disrupts Global Email Services
AI-generated image · US National Wire
A widespread infrastructure failure has left Outlook, Teams, and Copilot AI unavailable for users and businesses worldwide.
A massive outage involving Microsoft 365 has cut off users, businesses, and public services from their email since early Thursday afternoon, according to reporting from The Verge. The disruption, which began around 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, has rendered Microsoft Outlook unavailable via both apps and the web.
Microsoft confirmed the outage impacts various 365 business services that interact with email services and Exchange Online, specifically naming SharePoint Online, Teams, and Copilot AI. In an initial acknowledgment via its Microsoft 365 Status account, the company stated that a portion of its infrastructure experienced elevated load across multiple regions, likely causing the connectivity errors.
Recovery efforts have faced hurdles. According to a post from the Microsoft 365 Status account on X (formerly Twitter), the company monitored changes intended to improve serviceability and confirmed they were not working as expected. Microsoft noted it is now seeking alternate workstreams to increase capacity amid sustained traffic management imbalances.
In updates provided to The Verge, Microsoft indicated it initially struggled with monitoring server health and rebooting servers. While the company reported seeing early stabilization and incremental improvements in mailbox access and delayed email processing, it noted that capacity has not yet fully returned to baseline. To prevent the loss of delayed mail, Microsoft extended the email timeout to 48 hours. As of the latest reports, Microsoft has not provided an estimated time for full restoration.