Global Microsoft 365 outage hits Outlook, Teams and Copilot

Since 12 November, a failure in Microsoft 365 infrastructure has been affecting businesses, airlines and government bodies in several countries. This morning there are signs of recovery, but services remain officially degraded. Here is what we know so far and what affected organisations can do.

In 30 seconds

The outage started in Exchange Online and spread to Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and Copilot.
At its peak, Downdetector logged around 130,000 reports related to Outlook.
Microsoft says it has found no evidence of a cyberattack so far.
This morning there are signs of stabilisation, but services remain officially degraded.

It started with email. It didn't stop there.

What began as trouble accessing Exchange Online mailboxes quickly grew in scale. Since Thursday, 12 November, users in different parts of the world have reported failures across several Microsoft 365 services, with the impact varying by feature and by how heavily each service depends on email.

The disruption was not limited to individual users. Businesses, airlines and government bodies reported problems. In Australia, the government activated priority mechanisms to restore Microsoft services used by public bodies, including security and investigative agencies.

What happened in Microsoft's systems?

According to Microsoft's updates, the problem lies in the infrastructure that supports Exchange Online. Several servers unexpectedly became unavailable, which reduced operating capacity and overloaded the components that were still running. Because Teams, Copilot and some security and management tools depend on Exchange Online, the problem cascaded.

Microsoft rerouted traffic, isolated components and made infrastructure changes. However, some of the first measures did not have the expected effect, which prolonged the outage.

Incident timeline (Lisbon time)

13 Nov · 08:36

Status: Microsoft 365 services remain officially degraded. There are signs of recovery, but no confirmation of full resolution yet.

13 Nov · 07:36

Microsoft reports improved server stability after fixing a configuration component related to authentication and traffic routing.

Peak

Around 130,000 reports of Outlook problems on Downdetector.

12 Nov

First failures accessing Exchange Online. The problem spreads to Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and Copilot.

Was it a cyberattack? According to the latest information, Microsoft says it has found no evidence of malicious activity. The definitive technical cause has not yet been disclosed. This article will be updated when it is.

The impact goes well beyond productivity

For many organisations, Microsoft 365 is more than a tool. It is where internal communication, team collaboration, document management and integration with other applications take place. When it fails, everything connected to it is affected too.

Disrupted communication: teams without email and without some internal communication channels.
Stalled processes: tasks, approvals and operations that rely on the affected services are put on hold.
Inaccessible information: documents, data and integrated tools are out of reach.
Knock-on effects: third-party applications built on Microsoft infrastructure are affected as well.

What to do while services recover?

Follow the official status on the Microsoft 365 service status page and in the admin centre.
Use alternative channels, such as phone or SMS, for urgent internal communication.
Avoid changing email or authentication settings to try to work around the outage.
Be wary of emails and messages about the incident: phishing campaigns take advantage of situations like this.
Record the processes affected, so you can review your continuity plan once services are restored.

Frequent questions

Which Microsoft services were affected?

Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and Copilot, among others, with the impact varying by feature.

Was the Microsoft outage a cyberattack?

So far, Microsoft says it has found no evidence of malicious activity.

Has the outage been resolved?

On the morning of 13 November there were signs of stabilisation, but services remained officially degraded.

What should I do if my organisation was affected?

Follow the official service status, use alternative communication channels and contact your Microsoft partner if you need support.

In focus

Cybersecurity

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