Microsoft 365 outage, November 2026: what's happening
Since Thursday 12 November 2026, businesses, schools and governments worldwide have been having problems with Microsoft 365. Outlook is slow or won't load, calendars in Teams aren't working, and Copilot, Intune and parts of Defender are struggling too. Here's what is known, what isn't, and what you can do now.
A large part of Microsoft 365 has been disrupted since 12 November, with Exchange Online and Outlook at the core. Microsoft says a number of servers unexpectedly dropped out and sees no sign of an attack.
Below you'll find the timeline, which services are affected and what still works. Status as of Friday 13 November 2026, 10:15.
Live: how Microsoft 365 is doing right now
This overview fetches Microsoft's public status page every 2 minutes and independently checks whether the public endpoints for Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and the sign-in service respond. The timeline on the right shows the past 24 hours.
Loading the overview.
Every 2 minutes we fetch Microsoft's public status page and, from an Appfront server, check whether the public endpoints for Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and the sign-in service respond, and how quickly. This tells you something about the service in general, not about your own tenant: an endpoint can respond while your mailbox still won't load. Your administrator can see your own status in the Microsoft 365 admin centre under Service health.
What is going on
- Since Thursday 12 November at around 17:15 Dutch time, users worldwide have been having problems with Microsoft 365.
- The core of the problem is Exchange Online, the email service behind Outlook. Everything that depends on it is struggling too: calendars in Teams, Copilot, parts of Defender, Intune and Purview.
- Microsoft says a number of servers unexpectedly became unavailable, which overloaded the rest of the infrastructure.
- Microsoft is not aware of any malicious activity as the cause.
- A partial recovery overnight did not hold. On Friday morning, Microsoft reports positive results after a further adjustment.
On Thursday afternoon at around 17:15 Dutch time, users in North and South America could no longer reach their mailbox in Exchange Online. Microsoft opened incident EX1550543 for this. During the evening it became clear that it didn't stop at the Americas: Microsoft wrote that users in any region could be affected, and opened the broader incident MO1550821 (BleepingComputer). According to the NOS, the outage is being felt in more than seventy countries.
Microsoft is cautious about the cause. On @MSFT365Status on X, the company wrote that the high load was not caused by more traffic, but by a number of servers unexpectedly being unavailable, which put more strain on the rest of the infrastructure. It later emerged that a process that sets up secure connections was becoming overloaded (ABC7). Microsoft has started rolling back a recent change to the network configuration, but has not confirmed that this is the cause (ITdaily).
On Microsoft's status page, Microsoft states that it is not aware of any malicious activity causing the incident. Once service is restored, a report will follow with the cause and the remediation measures.
The timeline
- Thursday, during the evening
Microsoft widens the notification to incident MO1550821: users in any region may be affected, including in Teams, SharePoint Online, Copilot and Defender XDR (BleepingComputer). At its peak, Downdetector counts more than 130,000 reports about Outlook (ITdaily).
- Thursday evening and night
Microsoft pauses all deployments, redistributes traffic and restarts servers (BleepingComputer). It starts rolling back a recent change to the network configuration (ABC7).
- Friday, 08:29
Microsoft reports positive results for stability after a patch on part of the infrastructure and wants to extend it to more regions (Microsoft's status page).
- Friday, 10:14
Microsoft is seeing the first signs of stabilisation, but capacity is not yet back to normal. To protect delayed email, Microsoft is extending the window in which mail will continue to be delivered to 48 hours (Microsoft status page).
Status as of Friday 13 November 2026, 10:15. Sources: the Microsoft status page, @MSFT365Status on X, NOS, ITdaily, BleepingComputer and ABC7. The outage is still ongoing. Microsoft has not yet announced the final cause and has not given a time for full recovery.
Which services are affected and what keeps working
The common thread in Microsoft's notice: everything that talks to Exchange Online is struggling. According to Microsoft, components that don't need Exchange keep working. That explains why one colleague can join a Teams meeting while another can't send a calendar invitation.
What Microsoft reports per service, status as of 13 November 2026, 10:15 (Microsoft status page)
| Service | Affected | Working, according to Microsoft |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook and Exchange Online | Opening a mailbox via Outlook on the web, Outlook for desktop, mobile sync and REST. Mail may arrive with a delay | No component explicitly mentioned |
| Teams | Changing calendars, invitations and meetings, live and virtual events, creating private and shared channels | Calling, meetings, group chats and messages in channels |
| SharePoint and OneDrive | Sharing files with people outside the organisation, features that need Exchange | Opening files stored directly in SharePoint Online |
| Copilot | Loading Copilot Chat and getting answers, access to mail, calendar and files | Not mentioned |
| Security and management | Safe Links and quarantine in Defender for Office 365, Defender portal, Intune enrolment and compliance, Purview | Not mentioned |
| Other | Planner, To Do, Power Apps sign-in on mobile, Universal Print, Graph requests to mail data | Azure: no problems reported |
For more on each service, see the articles on Outlook and Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive and Intune, Defender and Copilot. If you use software that talks to your email or calendar via Microsoft Graph, also read what the outage means for integrations.
What you can do now
What to do, depending on your role
| You are | Now | Once it works again |
|---|---|---|
| Employee | Don't keep reinstalling or signing in again. Phone someone or use another channel for anything that can't wait | Check that sent mail has actually arrived |
| Administrator | Follow the service status under EX1550543 and MO1550821, and inform colleagues through a channel outside Microsoft 365 | Check queues and quarantine, and record times and impact |
| Management or owner | Establish which processes have come to a standstill and, where necessary, inform customers yourself | Evaluate how dependent you are and what it cost you |
If you are unsure whether the problem lies with Microsoft or with your own environment, read how to check the status of Microsoft 365 yourself. For a plan for the coming hours, see what your company should do during the outage. If you are wondering whether you will receive compensation, read what Microsoft's SLA says.
Around major outages, scammers send messages with a link to sign in again or recover your account. Don't click on them. Go to the service's known address yourself, and report anything doubtful to your administrator.
Why this outage affects so many organisations
For many organisations, Microsoft 365 is not a single program but the layer where email, calendar, files, sign-in and device management come together. When the component that everything else leans on goes down, you notice it in places you wouldn't immediately link to email: a calendar in Teams, a Copilot answer, a security scan of a link in a message.
That's not a criticism of Microsoft or of those who chose it. For most organisations, a large cloud platform is more reliable than anything they would run themselves. It does show that it pays to know which processes depend on a single supplier, and what you do when that supplier has a bad day. That is what the article on dependence on a single cloud provider covers.
was when the problems began on Thursday 12 November, Dutch time, according to NOS.
reports about Outlook at the peak on Downdetector, according to ITdaily.
countries where the outage is noticeable, according to NOS.
Frequently asked questions
About the Microsoft 365 outage of November 2026.
Is there an outage at Microsoft 365?
Yes. Since Thursday 12 November 2026 at around 17:15 Dutch time, users worldwide have been having problems with Outlook, Exchange Online and the services that depend on them. On Friday morning, 13 November, the outage is still listed as a disruption on Microsoft's status page.
Which Microsoft 365 services are not working?
Mainly Exchange Online, and therefore Outlook, plus everything that relies on it: calendars in Teams, Copilot, parts of Defender, Intune, Purview, Planner and To Do. According to Microsoft, calling and meeting in Teams and files in SharePoint are largely still working.
What caused the Microsoft outage?
According to Microsoft, a number of servers became unavailable unexpectedly, which overloaded the rest of the infrastructure. The definitive cause has not yet been announced. Microsoft has promised a post-incident report.
Is the Microsoft outage a hack or cyberattack?
Microsoft says it is not aware of any malicious activity causing the outage. No evidence of an attack has been published.
When will Outlook work again?
Microsoft has not said yet. On Friday morning it reported positive results after a further change, following an earlier partial recovery that did not hold. Follow Microsoft's status page for the latest update.
How can I tell whether the problem is with Microsoft or my own environment?
Check status.cloud.microsoft and, as an administrator, look under Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin centre for EX1550543 and MO1550821. The article on checking the status includes a short check for your own domain.
Further reading
Is it Microsoft or is it you?
Checking the status yourself, as a user and as an administrator.
Read more OutlookOutlook not working
What does and doesn't work, and what to do with your email.
Read more PlaybookWhat to do as a company
Emergency communication and alternatives for the next few hours.
Read more IntegrationsIntegrations built on Microsoft Graph
What the outage does to software that relies on Microsoft 365.
Read moreDoes your business run on Microsoft 365 integrations?
Appfront builds custom software and integrations, including with Outlook, Teams and SharePoint. Want to know what an outage like this does to your own software, or how to make it more resilient? Book a call with a developer.