Microsoft 365 and Outlook outage, 12–13 November 2026

Last updated: Friday 13 November, 1:15pm. Service is starting to come back for many users, though Microsoft hasn't declared it fixed yet. We'll update this page as Microsoft does.

Since Thursday afternoon, 12 November 2026, a Microsoft 365 outage has stopped many businesses reaching Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft 365 apps. At lunchtime on Friday Microsoft's status page still says users "may be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 services". Here's what we know, what to do now, and how to make the next one hurt less.

What's happening

• On Thursday afternoon, many Microsoft 365 users couldn't reach their Outlook mailbox, on PC, web or phone. Microsoft first saw Exchange Online (its email service) problems in the Americas earlier in the day, then confirmed users in any region could be affected.
• Microsoft says the wider Microsoft 365 incident began at 1:26pm US Eastern time, which is 6:26pm in the UK. Its admin centre reference is MO1550821.
• Affected services include Exchange Online (Outlook email), Teams, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Defender.
• The cause isn't extra traffic. Microsoft says a number of its servers became unexpectedly unavailable, which overloaded the rest. It has paused changes, moved traffic away from the affected systems and is bringing servers back gradually.

Is it just me?

No. It's a Microsoft outage, not a fault with your PC, phone or internet connection. You can check the live status at status.cloud.microsoft. Microsoft keeps that page up for exactly this reason, because the normal admin centre may not load either.

What the Microsoft 365 outage means for you

If your business email, Teams or SharePoint runs on Microsoft 365, you may be unable to send or read mail, join Teams calls or open shared files until Microsoft finishes its recovery. Files already synced to your PC through OneDrive are normally still there to open. As servers come back, apps reconnect gradually, so one colleague may be working again before another.

What to do now

1. Don't reset anything. Restarting, reinstalling Outlook or rebuilding your profile won't help, and it can cause extra work once the service is back.
2. Don't keep resending emails. When a mailbox can't be reached, the sending mail server usually queues the message and retries, so most delayed mail arrives late rather than not at all. Resending just creates duplicates.
3. Phone anything urgent. If you're waiting on a time-critical email, call the sender.
4. Watch for scam emails. Outages are a gift to scammers. Be wary of "reset your password", "mailbox full" or "verify your account" emails, during the outage and for a while after. If in doubt, don't click. Our scam texts guide covers the same warning signs.

When will it be fixed?

Recovery is under way. Our own Outlook reconnected at about 1pm on Friday, and many users are seeing the same, but Microsoft's status page hasn't marked the incident resolved yet.

• Delayed emails may arrive in a burst. Check your inbox before resending anything.
• Still cut off? Give it a little longer, as apps reconnect gradually. If it doesn't come back, call us on 01362 760100.

We'll update this page when Microsoft says it's resolved.

Could your business cope next time?

An outage like this is outside anyone's control, but how much it hurts your business isn't. Questions worth asking:

• Do your staff know where to check status, and who to call?
• Is your email backed up independently of Microsoft? Our guide to Microsoft 365 backup explains why it matters.
• Do you have another way to reach customers, such as phone or a notice on your website?

How we can help

We look after Microsoft 365 and email for businesses across Norfolk, and we back it up with our own backup service, kept separately from Microsoft. If you'd like us to look at your setup, backups or what you'd do in the next outage, call our Dereham team on 01362 760100 or get in touch.