Microsoft says services being slowly restored after widespread outages across its platforms

A widespread outage hit Microsoft platforms including Outlook on Thursday, with many users encountering trouble using their email accounts and other errors across the tech giant's suite of apps.

Nearly 130,000 users reported problems on Downtracker at its peak around midday

The Associated Press

· Posted: Nov 12, 2026 5:15 PM EST | Last Updated: 14 minutes ago

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A widespread outage hit Microsoft platforms including Outlook on Thursday, with many users encountering trouble using their email accounts and other errors across the tech giant's suite of apps.

Nearly 130,000 users on outage tracker Downdetector reported problems accessing Outlook just after 1 p.m. ET. New reports have since fallen from that peak, but many said they couldn't send and receive emails, or had trouble loading their inboxes altogether.

Thousands also reported issues with Microsoft's workplace messaging app Teams, as well as its AI assistant Copilot and wider Microsoft 365 services.

Microsoft said it was investigating disruptions, notably related to its email and Teams applications.

In updates posted on social media, Microsoft said it was aware of users "experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas."

We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas. More details can be found in the Microsoft 365 admin center under EX1550543.

—MSFT365Status

Microsoft later explained that a portion of its infrastructure was "experiencing elevated load," which it said was "likely contributing to the connectivity errors." The company determined a number of servers were "unexpectedly unavailable" due to a problem that caused them to fail during automated checks.

CBC News has reached out to Microsoft for details about how users in Canada are affected.

Microsoft did not immediately provide more information around what might be causing the failure, but said it was testing a fix.

Microsoft's Visitor Centre in Redmond, Wa. The company said 'elevated load' was likely the cause of connectivity errors users encountered. (Lindsey Wasson/The Associated Press)

"We're aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact," the Microsoft 365 Status account wrote on X.

Earlier in the day, the company said it had "successfully restored" problems related to Microsoft Teams in North America, although some users continued to report connectivity issues.