Updated 13 November 2026
A major Microsoft 365 outage that began on Thursday, 12 November, was still hitting Outlook, Teams and Copilot on Friday, with recovery under way but not complete. Microsoft says it is seeing “encouraging recovery progress”, and email that was stuck is now being delivered. It has not said when everything will be back to normal.
Key points
Read next
- Began Thursday 12 November at about 1:26 PM ET (11:56 PM IST)
- Hit Outlook, Teams, Copilot, OneDrive and Azure-linked services worldwide
- Microsoft says it is not a cyberattack and no data breach is indicated
- Delayed emails are arriving; the retry window was extended to 48 hours
Timeline: what happened, hour by hour
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Thu, 9:45-10:53 AM ET | A separate, earlier Teams problem, since resolved |
| Thu, about 1:00 PM ET | Microsoft posts that it is investigating user issues |
| Thu, 1:26 PM ET (11:56 PM IST) | The main incident begins, per BleepingComputer |
| Thu, 6:57 PM ET | Microsoft says it is returning some affected servers to service |
| Fri, early morning ET | “Early stabilisation” and capacity improvements, ABC News reports |
| Fri, 8:05 AM ET | Gradual recovery, some users still see intermittent problems |
Which services were affected
Microsoft’s own advisory listed Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Defender XDR. Reports on the outage tracker Downdetector also showed spikes for Outlook, Microsoft 365, OneDrive, the Microsoft Store and Azure. BleepingComputer called the outage worldwide, and Microsoft later confirmed users in any region could be affected. Problems were first reported in the Americas.
For ordinary users it meant Outlook not loading or not sending, Teams meetings failing to start, and Copilot not responding. In New York City, the emergency management office warned of delays to email and online city services and asked residents to call 311 or 911 for emergencies, ABC News reported.
What Microsoft says went wrong
The explanation changed as the day went on. Microsoft first blamed “elevated infrastructure load across multiple regions”. It later said load was not driven by extra traffic but by servers unexpectedly becoming unavailable, and that a core process on the affected servers was becoming overwhelmed. It was also checking whether reversing a small number of recent configuration changes could speed up recovery. No final root cause has been published.
Charles Lamanna, Microsoft’s executive vice president for Copilot, Agents and Platform, said on social media: “There is no indication this is the result of malicious or cyber activity.” He added that the company regretted the disruption to customers.
We’re seeing encouraging recovery progress.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) 13 November 2026
The post above, from Microsoft’s official status account on the morning of 13 November, adds new detail: servers Microsoft had returned to service became unresponsive once traffic came back to them, so it is temporarily limiting inbound traffic while it studies diagnostic data. It says it is adjusting traffic protocols, redistributing traffic and applying “strategic traffic blocking measures”, and is seeing partial recovery in the regions where it has done so. That is why some people are back online while others still see errors. The status account is the best place to follow live progress, and Microsoft’s Service Health page is the other source for administrators.
Is my email lost?
No, according to what Microsoft has said so far. Mail that could not be delivered is being retried, and Microsoft extended its email timeout window to 48 hours, so messages sent during the outage should still arrive. Some may show up hours late or out of order. If something important is missing, ask the sender to resend it, and check your spam and junk folders, since a delayed message sometimes lands there.
What you can do right now
- Use the web or phone versions: if the Outlook desktop app fails, try Outlook on the web or the mobile app, which may recover first.
- Have a backup channel: for urgent work, use WhatsApp, a phone call or another meeting tool until Teams settles.
- Don’t reinstall or reset anything: the problem is on Microsoft’s servers, not on your device.
- Watch for scams: outages bring fake “fix your account” emails and calls. Microsoft will not ask for your password to fix an outage.
- Companies: IT admins can follow incident updates in the Microsoft 365 admin centre.
What about India?
The reports we reviewed did not say how Indian users or companies were affected. The incident began late on Thursday night in India, so many offices will be feeling it as the working day starts on Friday. If you use Microsoft 365 at work, check with your IT team before you assume a missing email was never sent.
Why this keeps happening
Most of the world’s office email, meetings and documents now run on a handful of cloud providers. When one of them has a problem inside its own systems, millions of people feel it at once, whether or not any attack is involved. That is why more businesses are asking what backup they have when a cloud service stops.
Frequently asked questions
Is Outlook down right now?
Service is improving but some users may still see intermittent problems. Check the Microsoft 365 Status account for the latest.
Was Microsoft hacked?
Microsoft says there is no indication of malicious or cyber activity.
Will my delayed emails arrive?
Microsoft says delayed mail is being delivered, with the retry window extended to 48 hours.
Questions to think about
- Should companies keep a backup email and chat system for days like this?
- Should cloud providers pay customers when a long outage hits paid services?
- How much of daily work in India now depends on a single provider?
