Microsoft 365 outage tops 12 hours, disrupting users in 74 countries
In brief
- Microsoft 365 outage began around 16:17 UTC on November 12, lasting more than 12 hours, Crypto Briefing reported.
- Outlook, Teams, Copilot, SharePoint Online and OneDrive had issues across 74 countries and territories.
- Microsoft ruled out a cyberattack, pointing to unexpected server unavailability.
- Downdetector logged a peak of more than 130,000 Outlook-related complaints in the US.
How the outage spread
The trouble started at approximately 16:17 UTC, according to Crypto Briefing. Exchange Online, the backbone of Microsoft's corporate email service, was the first system to fail, so email broke before anything else did. Within about an hour, connectivity failures had spread worldwide, and Outlook, Teams, Copilot, SharePoint Online and OneDrive were all having issues.
That's nearly the whole suite.
Downdetector logged a peak of more than 130,000 Outlook-related complaints in the US alone, as cited by the outlet. And that's one country and one app.
Microsoft says it wasn't a cyberattack
Microsoft has ruled out a cyberattack as the cause, per Crypto Briefing's report. The company instead pointed to unexpected server unavailability, which pushed extra load onto the infrastructure that was still running. Engineers spent more than 12 hours on recovery, and that work included rerouting traffic and restarting servers.
It isn't fully over.
As of November 13, many services were still failing intermittently and full restoration was still in progress, the outlet reported, with Microsoft describing service health as variable.
Banks, courts and fax machines
The knock-on effects come from Crypto Briefing's account, which doesn't name sources for them. Government operations slowed in several countries, with delays reported in visa processing and court operations. Banks and airlines also faced disruptions, and some businesses fell back on fax machines to confirm trades (yes, fax machines).
AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic also reported operational problems linked to the outage, according to the outlet.
It's not the first time this year. The report described this as the second major Microsoft 365 outage of 2026, following an earlier incident. Reports that the outlet didn't attribute put Microsoft 365 at roughly 430 million to 450 million users.
Frequently asked questions
What caused the Microsoft 365 outage on November 12?
Microsoft has ruled out a cyberattack, according to Crypto Briefing. The company pointed to unexpected server unavailability, which pushed extra load onto the infrastructure that was still running. Engineers spent more than 12 hours on recovery, including rerouting traffic and restarting servers.
Which Microsoft 365 services were affected by the outage?
Exchange Online, the backbone of Microsoft's corporate email service, failed first at approximately 16:17 UTC, Crypto Briefing reported. Outlook, Teams, Copilot, SharePoint Online and OneDrive all had issues, and connectivity failures spread worldwide within about an hour.
Is Microsoft 365 fully restored?
Not as of November 13, according to Crypto Briefing. Many services were still failing intermittently and full restoration was still in progress, with Microsoft describing service health as variable.
