Global Microsoft outage hits Outlook and Teams for thousands of users

Tens of thousands of users worldwide are facing a major global service outage affecting Microsoft programs including Teams, Outlook, Copilot, and OneDrive.

The Impact

Reports of problems with Outlook peaked globally at nearly 140,000 around 18:00 GMT on Thursday, according to monitoring website Downdetector. Users in regions including Japan, Singapore, and the US have reported disruptions. The outage has also hit other companies that work with Microsoft's systems, such as AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said it was investigating an issue affecting its connections to Microsoft's services. Electric truck maker Workhorse Group even had to reschedule its third-quarter results announcement from 12 November to 16 November because of business disruptions from the outage.

Company Response

Microsoft stated on X that the outage was caused by a number of servers unexpectedly becoming unavailable, which strained its remaining systems. The company noted that users may be unable to view certain files or details on their calendar apps, and its AI platform Copilot may not work properly, though messaging and online meetings remained largely functional. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company is working to address the issues and asked for customers' patience. Microsoft later warned that some services that had been restored can become unresponsive again and that customers in any region could be affected.

Context

Large technology companies rely on massive networks of servers to run cloud-based services for millions of businesses and individuals at the same time. When a key part of these server networks suddenly stops working, the heavy load on the remaining systems can cause widespread service failures. Microsoft previously reported an outage of its Azure cloud platform last month that also affected its suite of productivity tools and companies worldwide. The BBC understands there is no indication that the current outage was caused by a cyber-attack.