Microsoft 365 Outage: What We Know So Far

Last updated: Friday 13 November 2026, 12:13 pm. We will update this page as the situation develops.

Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, are down, and countless Friday morning emails were unable to reach their intended recipients.

Here's what we know so far about this outage, which has caused widespread disruption for businesses that depend on Microsoft 365 services, from halting house sales to disrupting public services and resulting in lost multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes.

It's not just emails that are affected

Unfortunately, this incident is causing disruption far and wide across all industries in 74 countries worldwide.

Here are some sectors which have been hit hardest:

• Property: Conveyancers use email to request mortgage funds, send completion statements and confirm that money has arrived. Friday is traditionally the busiest day for completions, so delays can leave buyers and sellers waiting.
• Public services: Some police forces have urged people to phone rather than report crimes online; the National Pharmacy Association said it was affecting pharmacies' ability to communicate with GPs and NHS email systems; and the Insolvency Service reported problems sending and receiving email.
• Everyday business tools: Teams scheduling and calendars, Copilot's access to email and files, and Defender's Safe Links, which checks links in Outlook and Teams, have all been affected. Even the Microsoft 365 connectors for ChatGPT and Claude stopped working.
• Logging in: Any account that sends your login code or password reset link to your email is unreachable.

What has happened?

Microsoft says a large number of servers became unavailable after failing automated health checks, which put additional load on the servers that were still running. Early fixes did not hold, and some restored servers failed again.

The problems began at around 6pm on Thursday, UK time. Outage tracker Downdetector logged nearly 130,000 Outlook reports, with reports coming from 74 countries and territories. Microsoft has not said how many customers are affected.

In its latest update, Microsoft said recovery work is now complete across parts of its infrastructure in Asia Pacific, with mailbox access and delayed email processing improving. It is extending the same fixes to other regions, but service remains patchy for some users.

At this stage, they've still not given a time for full recovery or confirmed the root cause.

Is it a cyberattack?

Microsoft says it has found no evidence of malicious activity, although it hasn't yet confirmed the root cause. The tech giant has attributed the outage to server unavailability and to the strain on the remaining infrastructure.

What is affected?

• Outlook and Exchange Online: Some users cannot reach their mailboxes, and some messages are delayed.
• Teams: scheduling and editing meetings and sending invitations are affected. Some users report that chat and calls still work, so your experience may vary.
• SharePoint and OneDrive: Access to some files may be disrupted.
• Copilot: It may be unresponsive and unable to reach your email, calendar and files.
• Safe Links in Defender for Office 365: Links in Outlook and Teams may not open.

The MFA issue

Many websites and apps use email to prove you are who you say you are: a one-time code, a "magic link" or a password reset link. That's all well and good until your email stops working.

During an unprecedented outage like this one, anyone whose mailbox is down cannot receive those messages, so they're left unable to log in to the services that rely on them: online shops, supplier and customer portals, cloud and finance software, and many more.

Not all MFA is equal

Here is some of the most up-to-date security guidance when it comes to MFA best practices and scoring methods:

What to do

• Move to an authenticator app wherever a service offers one.
• Use hardware keys or passkeys for the accounts that matter most: administrators, finance, and email itself.
• Keep recovery codes somewhere safe and offline, so you can still get in if your phone or inbox is unavailable.
• Check your recovery options. Your email should not be the only route into everything else.
• Do not switch off email codes if they are your only option. They are still far better than no MFA at all.

What should you do now?

1. Check Microsoft's status: Visit the service health page in your Microsoft 365 admin centre or the Microsoft 365 Status account on X.
2. Use another channel for anything urgent: Phone people rather than waiting for an email or Teams reply.
3. Avoid resending the same email: Some messages may arrive late, and duplicates only add to the confusion.
4. Never send money because of an email: Scammers use outages as cover, for example by claiming that bank details have changed. Confirm any payment request by phone, on a number you already have.
5. Be careful with links and attachments: Be wary of unexpected emails offering fixes or asking you to sign in, and forward anything suspicious to report@phishing.gov.uk.
6. Keep a note of what is affected: So you can pick up where you left off once service returns.

For Netitude clients

Our service delivery team is monitoring the situation and will contact affected clients directly. Please do not rely on email to reach us today. You can call the service desk on 0333 2412322, via CMS, or Microsoft Teams.

If something that should be working isn't, or you're unsure whether the outage is causing the issue, get in touch with the team.

• Why can an email outage stop me logging in to other services? Many websites and apps send a one-time code, magic link or password reset link to your email. If your mailbox is down, those messages cannot reach you, so you cannot complete the login.
  
  

• Is email-based MFA safe to use? It is better than no MFA, so do not switch it off if it is your only option. But security guidance ranks codes sent by email or text as the weakest form of MFA, because they can be intercepted or phished, and email codes depend on your inbox being available. Authenticator apps are stronger, and hardware keys and passkeys are the strongest.
  
  

• Is Microsoft 365 down? Since Thursday evening, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and Copilot have been disrupted worldwide. Check Microsoft's service health page for the latest.
  
  

• Is the Microsoft outage a cyberattack? Microsoft attributes the outage to server unavailability and strain on the remaining infrastructure and has not reported any evidence of a cyberattack.
  
  

• How long will the outage last? Microsoft has not given a restoration time, and early fixes have not held. We will update this page as soon as we have more information.
  
  

• What should I do if I am waiting for an important email? Contact the sender by phone, as messages may be delayed. Avoid asking for the same email to be resent several times.
  
  

• Should I worry about phishing during an outage? Yes. Attackers use big news stories as cover. Be cautious with unexpected emails about the outage, and report anything suspicious to report@phishing.gov.uk