Thousands of users have reported issues with Outlook and other Microsoft 365 services on the morning of Monday, November 25. This has led to a significant increase in searches in Google such as is Outlook down, Outlook down, Microsoft outage, and Outlook outage.

The outage, confirmed by Microsoft, is impacting users globally according to reports on social media and monitoring platforms.

Why is Outlook is down today?

Microsoft posted on the social platform X (formerly known as Twitter) that it is investigating an issue affecting users trying to access Exchange Online or use calendar functionalities in Microsoft Teams. In the company’s words:

“We’ve identified a recent change which we believe has resulted in impact. We’ve started to revert the change and are investigating what additional actions are required to mitigate the issue.”

This statement suggests that a configuration change may have triggered the outage, although Microsoft is working to reverse it and stabilize its services.

What reports have been registered about the issue?

Downdetector, a well-known platform for tracking digital service outages, registered a significant spike in problem reports related to Outlook and other Microsoft 365 services starting at 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Initially, there were only a few dozen reports, but the number quickly increased as more users tried unsuccessfully to access their services.

What is Microsoft doing to resolve the outage?

Microsoft has reported that it has started deploying a solution to address the problem and that this fix is being rolled out progressively across the affected environments. The company also stated that manual restarts are being performed on a subset of machines that are in an unhealthy state. In its posts, Microsoft stated:

“While we continue to work on mitigating the issue, we’ve added a comprehensive list of impacted services and scenarios to the more info section. For more information, please refer to MO941162 in the admin center.”

This action aims to restore functionality for users as quickly as possible while additional measures are implemented.

How long could the outage last?

Although Microsoft has not provided an estimated time for full resolution, its recent history may offer some context. In July, a massive Microsoft 365 outage caused by a technical issue associated with CrowdStrike had global consequences for several hours. However, that incident had a far greater impact, disrupting industries such as airlines, banking, and healthcare.

For now, the company is reversing recent changes and monitoring the progress of the solutions being deployed.

What Microsoft 365 services are affected?

Reports indicate that, in addition to Outlook, other services such as Teams, Exchange Online, and calendar functionalities have also experienced issues. Microsoft has shared a detailed list of affected services in its admin center under reference MO941162.

How is this outage impacting users?

The outage is affecting both individual and corporate users who rely on Microsoft 365 for essential tools like email, cloud storage, and online collaboration. This incident highlights the global reliance on digital services for both work and personal activities.

On social media, users have expressed frustration over access issues, particularly with Outlook emails and scheduled meetings in Teams.

These are the messages that Microsoft shared on X about the fall of its service:

We’re investigating an issue impacting users attempting to access Exchange Online or functionality within Microsoft Teams calendar. For more information, please refer to MO941162 in the admin center.

While we continue to work on mitigating the issue, we’ve added a comprehensive list of impacted services and scenarios to the more info section. For more information, please refer to MO941162 in the admin center.

We’ve identified a recent change which we believe has resulted in impact. We’ve started to revert the change and are investigating what additional actions are required to mitigate the issue. For more information, please refer to MO941162 in the admin center.
Microsoft 365 Status

We’ve started to deploy a fix which is currently progressing through the affected environment. While this progresses, we’re beginning manual restarts on a subset of machines that are in an unhealthy state. For more information, please refer to MO941162 in the admin center.