Microsoft apps face widespread outage affecting Outlook and Teams
Nearly 1,30,000 users reported problems accessing Outlook as Microsoft investigated infrastructure issues.
A widespread outage hit Microsoft platforms, including Outlook, on Thursday, November 12, 2026, causing errors across the company's suite of applications. According to The Hindu, nearly 1,30,000 users on the outage tracker Downdetector reported problems accessing Outlook just after 1 pm ET.
Thousands of users also reported issues with the workplace messaging app Microsoft Teams, the AI assistant Copilot, and wider Microsoft 365 services. While reports declined from their peak, many users still faced difficulties sending and receiving emails or loading inboxes.
The Redmond, Washington-based company said it was investigating disruptions, particularly regarding email and Teams applications. Microsoft stated that a portion of its infrastructure was experiencing elevated load, which was likely contributing to connectivity errors.
The company determined that a number of servers were unexpectedly unavailable after failing during automated health checks. Microsoft has paused all deployments and redirected traffic away from the affected infrastructure to restore services.
The Microsoft 365 Status account wrote on X that the company is aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact. Although Microsoft said it had successfully restored some Teams issues in North America, some users continued to report connectivity problems.