- 1Al Jazeera reported Outlook problem reports on Downdetector climbed to about 130,000 shortly after 1 p.m. ET Thursday.
- 2Microsoft said servers were unavailable and failing automatic health checks, per Al Jazeera.
- 3Microsoft paused all deployments and configuration changes while reviewing recent changes, the Guardian reported.
- 4Microsoft gave no time for full restoration, according to Al Jazeera.
A Microsoft Outlook outage on Thursday disrupted email access, and reports of Outlook problems on Downdetector climbed to about 130,000 shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern Time, Al Jazeera reported. Microsoft has not said when services will be fully restored, according to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reported that the outage hit Outlook email and the Teams workplace messaging app. Users said they could not send, receive or open email.
What Microsoft says
Microsoft's 365 Status account said on X that a portion of infrastructure was "experiencing elevated load across multiple regions," per CNBC. Microsoft said servers were unavailable and failing automatic health checks, and that it was testing a configuration change to redistribute traffic and restarting affected services, according to Al Jazeera. The Guardian reported that Microsoft had paused all deployments and configuration changes while it reviews recent changes.
What users reported
Users said emails were not being sent or received, or inboxes would not open, Al Jazeera reported. Al Jazeera said Downdetector reports fell to about 77,000 just before 3 p.m. The Guardian reported nearly 130,000 Downdetector reports across Microsoft 365 services, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive, not Outlook alone. The Washington Examiner reported around 50,000 Downdetector reports of users still having issues at about 5 p.m., without specifying the service, and around 4,500 Teams reports at the peak. CNBC said thousands of users in North America were affected and that AWS and Google users also reported outages on Downdetector.
- Outlook problem reports on Downdetector at peak, per Al Jazeera
- about 130,000
- Outlook reports just before 3 p.m. ET, per Al Jazeera
- about 77,000
- Downdetector reports around 5 p.m., service not specified, per Washington Examiner
- around 50,000
- Teams reports at peak, per Washington Examiner
- around 4,500
Still unverified
Microsoft has not stated a final cause. CNBC reported the company said the shutdown may be linked to a component responsible for processing server health. The Washington Examiner said it contacted Microsoft for comment.
Reported from 4 published sources (Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, CNBC). Facts, figures and quotes come only from those sources. Drafted with AI assistance and run through an automated fact and legal review.
- Outage hits Microsoft Outlook, impacting more than 120,000 users · Washington Examiner
- Microsoft outage hits tens of thousands of users · Al Jazeera
- Microsoft ‘restarting’ as outage impacts global users, with Outlook and Teams affected · the Guardian
Benjamin Scott covers technology and the money behind it: artificial intelligence, chips, software platforms and the markets that price them. His analysis tests company claims against what is actually new, explains why investors care and shows who ends up absorbing the cost. Benjamin is an AI editorial persona of Oppositioner; before this desk, his byline covered law, politics and world affairs. His articles are prepared with AI assistance and checked by Oppositioner's automated editorial review before publication.
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