Yes. Outlook is down for many users in a global Microsoft 365 outage that began on Thursday, November 12, 2026, and is still being fixed on Friday, November 13, 2026. Email, calendars, Teams, and several other Microsoft services stopped working for users in dozens of countries. Microsoft is bringing servers back gradually, but it has not confirmed full recovery yet.
If your inbox will not load, your messages will not send, or Outlook keeps asking you to sign in, the problem is almost certainly on Microsoft's side, not yours. This article explains what is happening, what Microsoft has said, and what you can do while you wait.
The short version: a large number of Microsoft's servers became unavailable after failing automated health checks, which overloaded the servers that were still running. Microsoft says there is no indication of a cyberattack, and it has not named a final root cause. Recovery is gradual, so Outlook may come back at different times for different people.
What is affected by the Microsoft outage
The outage centers on Exchange Online, the service behind Outlook email and calendars. But Microsoft's wider advisory covers much more of the Microsoft 365 suite. The table below lists the main services Microsoft named as potentially affected.
| Service | What users see |
|---|---|
| Exchange Online (Outlook email and calendars) | Inboxes will not load; mail cannot be sent or received |
| Microsoft Teams | Meetings and chats may fail to connect |
| SharePoint Online | Sites and files may be unreachable |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | AI features may fail or be unavailable |
| Defender XDR and Defender for Office 365 | Security consoles and protections may be degraded |
| Planner, To Do, Intune | Tasks and device management may be affected |
| Other services | Microsoft Graph requests for Exchange data, some Power BI exports, parts of the admin centers, Universal Print |
Microsoft said Teams problems in North America were restored earlier in the incident, although some users there still reported connection trouble. That uneven picture is typical of this outage: recovery is happening server by server, not all at once.
The disruption reached far beyond office workers. Reuters reported that Australia's spy agency and federal police were affected, and the Philippine Supreme Court said the outage hit its judiciary email system. Downdetector said the disruption reached 74 countries and territories.
Microsoft 365 outage timeline
Times below are Eastern Time (ET) with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) alongside, since the outage started on Thursday in the Americas and ran into Friday morning elsewhere. All times come from Microsoft's incident updates and Downdetector figures reported in the press.
| Time (ET / UTC) | What happened |
|---|---|
| About 12:30 p.m. ET Thu / 5:30 p.m. UTC Thu | User reports begin building; Outlook problems spike on Downdetector |
| 12:54 p.m. ET / 5:54 p.m. UTC | Microsoft confirms it is investigating Exchange Online mailbox access problems |
| About 1:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. UTC | Downdetector peaks at 138,058 Outlook problem reports |
| 1:26 p.m. ET / 6:26 p.m. UTC | Microsoft opens wider advisory MO1550821 covering the full suite |
| About 4:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 p.m. UTC Thu | Alternative health-check method validated; a subset of servers returns |
| About 5:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 p.m. UTC | Microsoft says actions so far "have not provided the anticipated relief" |
| About 6:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 p.m. UTC | Some servers back and stable so far; limited recovery observed |
| About 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. UTC Fri | Some restored servers go unresponsive again once traffic returns |
| About 8:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 a.m. UTC Fri | Microsoft identifies a secure-connection process getting overwhelmed; fix being tested |
| 8:45 p.m. ET / 1:45 a.m. UTC Fri | Microsoft reports "positive results" from restarting infrastructure |
| About 10:00 p.m. ET / 3:00 a.m. UTC Fri | About 24,000 Outlook reports still on Downdetector |
| Friday morning UTC | Recovery continues; Microsoft has not confirmed full restoration |
Downdetector counts vary by region and by when they are read, so treat these numbers as the shape of the outage — a sharp spike, then a slow fall — rather than an exact headcount of affected customers.
What caused the Outlook outage
Microsoft's explanation has two layers. First, a large number of its servers became unexpectedly unavailable after failing automated health checks. The traffic those servers would have handled piled onto the remaining infrastructure, which pushed the rest of the system toward its limits.
Later, Microsoft said it found what was knocking servers offline: a process on the affected servers that establishes secure connections becomes overwhelmed, which causes the servers to stop processing requests. Engineers began testing a configuration change to fix that behavior on a subset of servers before applying it more broadly, alongside restarts of the affected infrastructure.
Three things Microsoft has ruled out or not found: the company said the problem was not a surge in traffic, it found no recent change linked to the start of the outage, and it said there is no indication of a cyberattack. A full root cause had still not been published as of Friday morning, November 13, 2026.
Microsoft also paused all deployments and configuration changes while it investigated, moved traffic off the affected infrastructure, and prepared an automated recovery system to detect and restart unresponsive servers. Some servers that were returned to service became unresponsive again once they started receiving traffic, which is why recovery has been stop-start.
How to check if Outlook is down for everyone or just you
Before you change anything on your own devices, check whether the outage is still ongoing. These three sources, in order, give you the fastest reliable answer.
- Microsoft 365 service status page — the official page, showing service degradation and the incident references EX1550543 and MO1550821.
- Downdetector's Outlook page — user reports from around the world. A tall spike means the problem is widespread.
- Microsoft 365 Status account on X — Microsoft's fastest public updates during the incident.
If those sources show an ongoing incident, the problem is not your account. You can also try Outlook on the web and the Outlook app, and on a different network, such as mobile data instead of office Wi-Fi. If it fails everywhere the same way, it is the outage.
One more check helps when email behaves strangely but the status page looks green: a DNS lookup can confirm whether mail domains resolve correctly from your network. If DNS answers normally and Outlook still fails, the fault sits with the service, not your connection.
If your mail fails for a different reason once the outage clears — for example, Outlook rejecting messages you send — that is usually a separate configuration problem. Our guide to Outlook rejecting email without DMARC covers the most common one and its five-minute fix.
What to do while Outlook is down
Mostly, wait — but wait smartly. Email you send during the outage will typically sit in your outbox and go out once the service recovers. Do not delete queued messages; they are not lost, they are waiting.
For urgent messages, use another channel: a phone call, a text message, or a different email account. Tell the other person you are switching channels because of the outage, so they do not miss the message.
Do not reset your password repeatedly. Sign-in failures during an outage are usually the service refusing connections, not your credentials failing. Repeated resets can lock you out or leave you unsure which password is current when service returns.
Do not delete and re-add your Outlook account on your phone or computer as a first step. Re-adding an account during an outage often fails halfway and can duplicate calendars or contacts when the service comes back. Try the web version first; if that fails too, the outage is the cause.
If you manage Microsoft 365 for an organization, follow incidents EX1550543 and MO1550821 under Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center. That is where Microsoft posts its most detailed updates, including which services and regions are recovering.
What not to do during the outage
Outages attract scams. Be suspicious of emails, texts, or ads claiming to fix the Outlook outage, restore your account, or asking you to sign in through a link. Microsoft will not ask for your password through an email link, and no third-party tool can repair Microsoft's servers.
Also skip the "outage fixer" downloads and browser extensions that appear during big incidents. They cannot reach Microsoft's infrastructure, and the worst of them steal credentials. The only real fix is Microsoft restoring its servers, and the only reliable updates are the official status sources above.
Finally, do not assume your email is gone. Outages like this one block access; they do not delete mailboxes. Messages sent to you while Outlook is down are held and delivered once the service recovers, although delivery may lag while the backlog clears.
Frequently asked questions
Is Outlook down right now?
As of Friday morning, November 13, 2026 (UTC), Outlook is recovering but Microsoft has not confirmed full restoration. Downdetector still showed elevated problem reports on Friday morning, and Microsoft's status page still showed service degradation. Check the official status page for the current state before assuming it is fixed.
When will Outlook be back?
Microsoft has not given a time for full restoration. Recovery is gradual: servers are returning in groups, and some have gone unresponsive again under traffic. Your mailbox may come back before your colleague's, or the other way around. Expect intermittent access until Microsoft declares the incident resolved.
Was the Outlook outage a cyberattack?
No indication of one, according to Microsoft. The company said a large number of servers failed automated health checks and that a secure-connection process was getting overwhelmed. It found no recent change linked to the start of the outage, and a spokesperson said there was no indication of a cyberattack.
Will I lose emails sent during the outage?
No. Email sent to you while Outlook is down is held by the sending servers and delivered once Microsoft's service recovers, although delivery can lag while the backlog clears. Messages stuck in your own outbox should send once your connection to Exchange Online is restored. Do not delete queued messages.
Should I change my Outlook password?
Not because of the outage. Sign-in failures during this incident are caused by Microsoft's servers refusing connections, not by your credentials. Change your password only if you have a separate reason to believe your account is compromised, and do it through Microsoft's official account page, never through a link in an email.
Where can I check the Microsoft 365 outage status?
Use the Microsoft 365 service status page, Downdetector's Outlook page, or the Microsoft 365 Status account on X. IT administrators get the most detail from incidents EX1550543 and MO1550821 under Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
