Microsoft 365 Outage Continues Globally as Recovery Attempts Fail; Outlook, Teams and Copilot Affected

Washington, November 13: A major global Microsoft 365 outage is currently ongoing after initial recovery fixes did not work "as expected". The disruption began on Thursday, November 12, 2026, and has continued into Friday, November 13, affecting hundreds of thousands of users across 74 countries, including in India, the US, Europe, and Australia.

Latest Status & Cause

Microsoft has confirmed in a recent update on X that its initial configuration changes to improve serviceability are not taking as expected. Engineers are now identifying alternate workstreams to increase capacity and manage sustained traffic imbalances.

Meanwhile, some regions like North America have reportedly seen limited, gradual recovery, the company has not yet achieved a sustained global fix.

Microsoft attributed the disruption to "elevated load" across parts of its infrastructure, which caused servers to fail automated health checks and become unavailable. Executives have explicitly ruled out any malicious activity or cyberattack.

Affected Services & Global Impact

The primary driver of the outage is Exchange Online, leaving users unable to sign in, load inboxes, or send and receive emails on Outlook. Microsoft Teams, Copilot, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive also have experienced widespread connectivity issues.

Outage tracker Downdetector logged between 130,000 and 140,000 problem reports globally at the peak of the incident.

Government agencies, courts, schools, banks, and airlines across multiple countries have reported communication blackouts. Several organizations have had to postpone virtual meetings and earnings calls or divert urgent inquiries to telephone lines.

Impact on Businesses and Airlines in India

The global Microsoft 365 outage has caused severe operational disruptions across 74 countries, paralysing essential communication tools like Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint. Businesses, schools, banks, and government agencies have faced widespread communication blackouts, forcing organizations to postpone virtual meetings and earnings calls. In India, airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet reported email support disruptions and flight delays.

Ultimately, this two-day incident highlights how heavily modern global infrastructure relies on centralized cloud platforms and underscores the urgent need for resilient backup communication systems.

Microsoft has not provided an estimated time for full restoration.