Global Microsoft 365 outage: Outlook and Teams down for 15 hours

What happened. Mass complaints about Outlook started around 18:00 GMT on Thursday. Downdetector data cited by the BBC shows a peak of nearly 140,000 reports, from 74 countries. Microsoft first talked about Exchange Online mailbox problems in the Americas. The outage then spread to Asia and Australia, and to Europe by Friday morning.

What is broken. Microsoft lists Outlook.com, OneDrive, OneNote, To Do, Teams and Microsoft 365 for the web, and warns other services may be hit too. Some users can't send or receive email, others can't open calendars. Teams works normally for some people.

Why it takes so long. Microsoft blames elevated load: many servers became unavailable at once and traffic piled onto the rest. Restarted servers failed again when traffic came back. At 02:54 GMT the company said its fixes had not worked. In the morning it reported "positive results" after patching an authentication and routing component on part of its servers. The status page still says users may be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 services.

Who is hit. Japan's government switched to other channels, and its economy minister called the impact major. Several UK police forces asked people to report crimes by phone. OpenAI and Anthropic reported problems with their Microsoft connectors. A CMC Markets trader in Singapore said trades were confirmed by phone and messaging apps.

What next. Microsoft promises a detailed root cause report once the issue is fixed. It has not given a time for full recovery.

Hechos confirmados

• The outage began around 18:00 GMT on Thursday, November 12, 2026.^[2][3][4]
• Downdetector got Outlook reports from 74 countries, peaking at nearly 140,000.^[2][4]
• Microsoft's status page shows service degradation for Microsoft 365 (Business or Enterprise) and consumer products: users may be unable to connect to multiple services.^[1]
• Affected services include Outlook.com, OneDrive, OneNote, To Do, Teams, Microsoft 365 for the web and Copilot.^[2][3]
• Microsoft says it sees no sign of malicious or cyber activity.^[2][3]
• Microsoft blames elevated load: many servers became unavailable and traffic piled onto the rest.^[2][4]
• At 02:54 GMT on Friday Microsoft said its latest changes had not worked as expected.^[4]
• Later Microsoft reported positive server stability results after patching an authentication and routing component on part of its infrastructure.^[3]
• More than 430 million people use Microsoft 365 apps, according to Microsoft's website.^[2]
• OpenAI and Anthropic reported problems with their Microsoft connectors.^[2][4]
• Japan's government email went down, and economy minister Ryosei Akazawa called the impact major.^[3]
• Microsoft promises a post-incident report on the root cause.^[3]

Implicaciones

• ConfirmadoThe outage has lasted about 15 hours and hit the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe.
• ConfirmadoCustomers may be able to claim service credits under cloud contracts, the Australian Computer Society says.
• Nuestra lecturaRepeated outages may push companies to keep a backup channel and not rely on one provider.

Todavía no se sabe

• When services will fully recover.
• The exact technical cause: Microsoft promises a report later.
• How much money companies lost and whether Microsoft will pay credits.

A quién afecta

World, US, Europe, Asia. Anyone who works with Outlook, Teams and Microsoft 365

Fuentes

1. Microsoft: Microsoft service health status 13 de noviembre de 2026 · oficial
2. BBC: What we know about the global Microsoft outage 13 de noviembre de 2026 · medios
3. The Guardian: Microsoft outage live: 'positive results for server stability' reported, amid global disruption 13 de noviembre de 2026 · medios
4. DW: Global Microsoft outage disrupts Outlook and Teams 12 de noviembre de 2026 · medios