Microsoft apologizes for widespread Microsoft 365 outage, says services mostly restored

Microsoft apologized to customers after a widespread outage disrupted email and other Microsoft 365 services, saying most services are back online.

What happened

Microsoft said it is seeing broad recovery and stability across its services, but some customers and regions are still experiencing issues, which are being addressed. The company has not said how many users were affected by the outage, which began on Thursday.

Cause and response

The company emphasized that the outage was caused by a technical problem and was not related to a cyberattack or artificial intelligence. Microsoft said the disruption stemmed from an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a more recent network change.

Microsoft said it plans to release a full report detailing the incident once its review is complete.

Impact

Outlook, Teams, 365, OneDrive and Copilot were among the programs potentially affected, according to Downdetector. Services that also experienced disruptions included Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Copilot 365 and Microsoft Defender XDR, the company said on its website.

The U.K.’s National Health Service said the outage was affecting some of its services but that patients should attend appointments as normal. Air India said it had “temporarily rerouted” emails so it could continue to receive customer messages, adding that its flight operations were not affected. Earnings for Swiss luxury goods giant Richemont were slightly delayed on Friday due to the outage. Electric truck maker Workhorse Group rescheduled its third-quarter results release to Nov. 16, citing business disruptions caused by the global Microsoft outage.

Why it matters

The outage affected users across the U.S., Asia-Pacific and Europe, highlighting how dependent governments and businesses are on Microsoft 365 services for daily operations.

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Sources

• ksby.com: Microsoft apologizes for widespread outage, says services mostly restored
• scrippsnews.com: Microsoft apologizes for widespread outage, says services mostly restored
• cnbc.com: Microsoft works to restore Outlook and other 365 services
• thestar.com: Microsoft apologizes for outage affecting Outlook, Teams

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.