Key facts
- Microsoft said the elevated load was not driven by increased traffic but by servers being unexpectedly unavailable.
- Microsoft said it was testing a configuration to fix servers failing automated health checks.
- Downdetector showed over 131,000 reports of Microsoft Outlook problems in the US at 18:15 GMT.
- Microsoft said all affected servers had been restarted.
Microsoft said on November 12, 2026 that it was working to address connectivity problems after users worldwide reported outages on Thursday, affecting services including Teams, Outlook and its AI software Copilot.
The company said part of its infrastructure was experiencing elevated load that was likely contributing to connectivity errors. While the issue was first reported in the US, Microsoft said the problems could affect users in any region.
In a statement, Microsoft said it had determined the elevated load was not driven by an increase in traffic but by a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable, straining the remaining infrastructure. In an update at 19:50 GMT, it said it was testing a configuration to fix the problem, which was causing servers to fail automated health checks and become unavailable, and that all affected servers had been restarted.
Monitoring website Downdetector showed a spike in UK users reporting issues with Microsoft products at around 18:30 GMT. For the US, it suggested there had been over 131,000 reports of Microsoft Outlook problems at 18:15 GMT.