Outlook Outage Still Ongoing: What Is Down, Microsoft’s Latest Update and What to Do
A major Outlook and Microsoft 365 outage that began on 12 November 2026 is still ongoing. Here is what is down, what still works, Microsoft’s latest update and what to do while you wait.
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A major Outlook outage that began on Thursday, 12 November 2026 is still affecting Microsoft 365 users worldwide on Friday, 13 November. Microsoft’s service health page lists a “service degradation” in which users may be unable to open their mailbox in Outlook on the web, the Outlook desktop app or on mobile, and email delivery may be delayed. Microsoft says it is seeing “positive results” from a fix, is not aware of any malicious activity, and has not given a time for full recovery.
Last updated: 13 November 2026, 1:30 PM IST. This is a developing story based on Microsoft’s status page update of 7:29 AM UTC (12:59 PM IST).
Quick summary
- What is down: Outlook and Exchange Online mailboxes, plus parts of Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services that depend on email.
- When it started: Thursday, 12 November 2026, at about 9:47 PM IST (4:17 PM GMT), according to reports of Microsoft’s incident log.
- Status now: service degradation, more than 15 hours in. A patch is showing “positive results” on part of Microsoft’s infrastructure.
- Is it a cyberattack? Microsoft says it is “not aware of any malicious activity” behind the incident.
- Still working: Teams calls, meetings and chats, and files stored in SharePoint.
- Your emails: Microsoft has reported delays in delivery, not loss of mail.
What is happening with the Outlook outage?
Microsoft’s public status page says “users may be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 services”. The centre of the problem is Exchange Online, the email service behind Outlook for businesses. Because so many Microsoft 365 apps read mail, calendar and contacts from Exchange, the trouble has spread to features in other apps.
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The incidents are being tracked as EX1550543 (Exchange Online) and MO1550821 (Microsoft 365), according to multiple reports of Microsoft’s admin notices. The status page also shows a service degradation for Microsoft’s consumer products. Outage tracker Downdetector reportedly logged more than 130,000 Outlook problem reports at the peak on Thursday.
Which Microsoft services are affected?
Microsoft says features that interact with Exchange Online and email are affected, while parts that do not depend on it keep working. This table is based on Microsoft’s status page.
| Service | What is affected | What still works |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook / Exchange Online | Mailbox access on the web, desktop and mobile; email delivery may be delayed | — |
| Microsoft Teams | Calendar, scheduling, invites, meeting edits, creating live or virtual events, adding contacts | Joining calls and meetings, group chats, channel messages |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Copilot Chat may not load or may not reach email, calendar and files | — |
| SharePoint Online | Sharing files with people outside your organisation | Opening files stored in SharePoint |
| Microsoft 365 apps | Recently used files list may not appear | Opening and editing documents |
| Admin and security tools | Some admin center pages, Defender, Purview and Intune features | — |
| Planner, To Do, Power Apps | Loading errors and sign-in problems on mobile apps | Power Apps on the web |
Microsoft’s status page showed no Azure issues at the time of writing.
What has Microsoft said about the cause?
Microsoft has not published a confirmed root cause. In its updates, as reported by several outlets, the company said the extra load was not caused by more traffic. Instead, a large number of servers failed automated health checks and dropped out, pushing their work onto the remaining servers. Early fixes brought servers back, but some became unresponsive again once traffic returned.
In its latest update, Microsoft says: “We’re seeing positive results for server stability after applying an upstream authentication/routing configuration component patch to a portion of our infrastructure.” It is now expanding that patch to more servers. Microsoft adds that it will publish full details of the root cause in a Post-Incident Report once the issue is mitigated.
Outage timeline so far
| Time (IST) | What happened |
|---|---|
| Thu 12 Nov, about 9:47 PM | Exchange Online incident opened after users could not reach Outlook mailboxes (reported) |
| Thu 12 Nov, about 11:37 PM | Microsoft said users in any region could be affected (reported) |
| Fri 13 Nov, about 12:36 AM | Microsoft paused deployments and configuration changes (reported) |
| Fri 13 Nov, about 9:40 AM | Partial recovery in some regions, but not sustained (reported) |
| Fri 13 Nov, 12:59 PM | Microsoft’s status page: “positive results” from a patch on part of its infrastructure |
| Fri 13 Nov, by 2:00 PM | Next update due from Microsoft |
What to do while Outlook is down
- Check the official status first: open status.cloud.microsoft. Admins can also look under Health > Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center when it loads.
- Do not reinstall Outlook or reset passwords. The problem is on Microsoft’s side, so changing your own setup will not help and can create new problems.
- Use Teams for urgent work. Calls, meetings, group chats and channel messages are working, so share a meeting link in chat instead of sending a calendar invite.
- Phone or message for anything time-critical. Incoming mail may arrive late, so do not rely on email for approvals, payments or deadlines today.
- Watch out for scams. Fraudsters often use outages to send fake “fix your mailbox” links or make fake support calls. Microsoft will not ask you for your password or an OTP to restore service.
- Admins: tell staff what works and what does not, and avoid changing mail flow or DNS settings in a hurry.
For Indian businesses, the outage hit late on Thursday night and has run into Friday working hours. If your office depends on Microsoft 365, it is worth agreeing on a backup channel for days like this; a Microsoft partner such as Suprams’ Microsoft solutions team can help with setup and continuity planning.
Related reading: this week’s November 2026 Patch Tuesday fixed an Outlook zero-day (Microsoft has not linked it to this outage), our guide to backup solutions, and the most common cyber security threats, including phishing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Outlook down right now?
As of 1:30 PM IST on 13 November 2026, Microsoft’s status page still shows a service degradation, so some users cannot open their mailbox or are seeing delayed email. Recovery is uneven, so it may work for some people and not others.
Will I lose my emails because of the outage?
Microsoft has reported that email delivery may be delayed. It has not reported any loss of email.
Is the Outlook outage a cyberattack?
Microsoft says, “As of now, we are not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident.”
When will Outlook be fixed?
Microsoft has not given an estimated time. It says a patch is improving server stability and is being rolled out to more servers, with regular updates on its status page.
The bottom line
This is one of the longest Microsoft 365 disruptions of the year, and it is not over yet. There is nothing to fix on your own device: check Microsoft’s status page, use Teams chat and calls or the phone for urgent work, and be careful with any message that claims to “restore” your mailbox. We will update this article as Microsoft confirms recovery and the root cause.
Sources
- Microsoft: Service health status (update of 13 November 2026, 7:29 AM UTC)
- Microsoft Learn: How to check Microsoft 365 service health
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