Microsoft has confirmed a disruption affecting Outlook and Exchange Online after thousands of people reported problems accessing their email on Thursday, November 12. Users reported difficulties signing in, loading their inboxes and sending or receiving messages across web and app-based services.
Reports on outage-tracking website Downdetector climbed sharply during the afternoon, with more than 100,000 reports recorded in the United States at one point. These are user-submitted reports rather than a verified count of people affected. The disruption also prompted complaints about other Microsoft 365 services, although the exact scope was not immediately clear.
Microsoft acknowledged that some users in the Americas were unable to access their Exchange Online mailboxes through different connection methods. The company said it was investigating connectivity problems and directed business customers to incident EX1550543 in the Microsoft 365 admin center. The issue was also covered by Reuters.
Microsoft has not confirmed how many customers were affected or given a firm time for full restoration. As service conditions can change quickly, users still encountering errors should check their organization’s Microsoft 365 service health information or Microsoft’s public status page for the latest updates rather than assuming the interruption remains widespread.