Woke up, opened Outlook, saw nothing load? It's not your Wi-Fi, bestie. It's Microsoft.
A massive Microsoft outage has been breaking Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 apps since Thursday night India time. It started in the US workday, went global within about an hour, and was still not fully fixed when Indian offices logged in on Friday, 13 November. Yes, Friday the 13th. The memes wrote themselves.
So is Outlook down for everyone? What actually broke? Was it a hack? And what can you do right now? Here's the no-cap rundown, built from Microsoft's own status updates on X and trusted reports.
TL;DR - Yes, Outlook is down (or glitchy) for a lot of people. It's a Microsoft 365 problem centred on Exchange Online, the back end behind Outlook email. - Peak: Downdetector logged nearly 1.4 lakh (about 140,000) Outlook reports around 11:30 PM IST on 12 Nov, per BBC. - Cause (so far): Microsoft says a number of servers became "unexpectedly unavailable", which overloaded the rest. No sign of a cyber-attack, according to Microsoft. - Status: as of 9:18 AM IST on 13 Nov, Microsoft was still working on it and had no timeline for full recovery. - India: 808 Outlook reports on Downdetector by 6:55 AM IST, per Mathrubhumi.
Is Outlook Down Right Now?
For many users, yes. Microsoft first flagged trouble with Exchange Online mailboxes "in the Americas", then confirmed within minutes that the issue "may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region". Its latest update on X (9:18 AM IST, 13 Nov) said engineers were still reviewing traffic flows and affected infrastructure.
What people are seeing:
- Outlook not loading the inbox, or not sending and receiving email.
- Some files and calendar details not opening, according to Microsoft (via BBC).
- Copilot not working properly.
- Teams messaging and meetings were "largely functional", Microsoft told BBC, but features that depend on Exchange Online and email can break. Mathrubhumi reports that creating new chats or scheduling meetings was harder.
Moneycontrol, citing Microsoft's status page, says Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Defender XDR were listed as affected, and that the problem is limited to Microsoft 365 enterprise products, not its consumer services.
Microsoft Outage Timeline (IST)
All times are India time (IST). Microsoft's posts on X are timestamped in UTC, so we converted them.
| Time (IST) | What happened |
|---|---|
| Thu 12 Nov, 9:10 PM | Microsoft investigates a separate Teams issue in North America (TM1550488) |
| Thu 12 Nov, 10:39 PM | Microsoft says that Teams issue is fully resolved |
| Thu 12 Nov, 11:24 PM | Microsoft investigates Exchange Online mailbox access problems in the Americas (EX1550543) |
| Thu 12 Nov, ~11:30 PM | Downdetector Outlook reports peak near 140,000 globally (BBC) |
| Thu 12 Nov, 11:37 PM | Microsoft confirms users "in any region" may be affected |
| Fri 13 Nov, 12:42 AM | Microsoft pauses all deployments and starts restarting affected servers |
| Fri 13 Nov, 1:01 AM | Microsoft says the load isn't from more traffic but from servers being "unexpectedly unavailable" |
| Fri 13 Nov, 2:30 AM | An alternative health check method brings some servers back |
| Fri 13 Nov, 3:39 AM | Microsoft says earlier fixes didn't give "the anticipated relief"; a core process on affected servers is getting overwhelmed |
| Fri 13 Nov, 5:36 AM | Restored servers "can become unresponsive again" once they get traffic |
| Fri 13 Nov, 6:55 AM | 808 Outlook reports in India on Downdetector (Mathrubhumi) |
| Fri 13 Nov, 7:29 AM | Microsoft reports "positive results" from restarting infrastructure |
| Fri 13 Nov, 8:43 AM | Microsoft says the changes are "not taking as expected" and it's looking for other ways to add capacity |
| Fri 13 Nov, 9:18 AM | Latest update: engineers are reviewing traffic flows to optimise routing |
What Caused the Microsoft 365 Outage?
Short answer: Microsoft hasn't named a final root cause yet. Here's what it has said on its official Microsoft 365 Status account:
- Elevated load across multiple regions was "likely contributing to the connectivity errors".
- That load "isn't driven by an increase in traffic". A number of servers went "unexpectedly unavailable", straining the remaining infrastructure.
- Servers were failing automated health checks, and the failures "may originate from a specific component that's responsible for processing server health".
- Microsoft said it had not found any recent change linked to the start of the problem, though it was assessing whether reverting "a small number of recent configuration updates" could speed up recovery.
- Later it said a core process on affected servers is becoming overwhelmed, causing capacity loss. NDTV reports Microsoft identified this as a process that sets up secure connections.
Was it a hack? Microsoft told The Guardian it "had no indication of a cyber-attack", and BBC reports the same. So no, don't fall for posts claiming hackers "took down Microsoft".
How Big Is This Outage?
- Nearly 140,000 Outlook reports at the peak around 18:00 GMT (11:30 PM IST), according to Downdetector data reported by BBC.
- 74 countries and territories hit within about an hour, according to Downdetector (via CNA).
- More than five hours of disruption by Thursday evening US time (The Guardian), and more than eight hours by Friday morning India time (Moneycontrol).
- AI tools felt it too. CNA reports OpenAI was investigating broken Microsoft connectors, and Anthropic said an upstream provider issue was affecting its Microsoft 365 connector.
- X went wild. X's own post-count data shows posts about Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365, M365 or Copilot being "down" or having an "outage" jumped from under 250 an hour to over 28,000 an hour at the peak. Outlook, Teams, Copilot, M365 and Excel were all on X's worldwide trending list on Friday morning.
This isn't Microsoft's first rough patch this year. IANS notes a days-long Microsoft 365 outage in September, which Microsoft blamed on a "core authentication configuration" issue.
What You Can Do While Outlook and Teams Are Down
You can't fix Microsoft's servers, but you can save your workday:
- Check the official status first. Go to status.cloud.microsoft or the @MSFT365Status account on X. IT admins can track EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Don't reset your password or reinstall Office. This is a server-side problem. Wiping your app won't help and might log you out of other stuff.
- Try another way in, then wait. It's worth trying Outlook on the web or the mobile app if desktop fails, but don't expect miracles: the problem is on Microsoft's side, and Microsoft says recovery is gradual as clients reconnect.
- Move urgent chats elsewhere. Use a phone call, WhatsApp or another work channel for anything time-sensitive, and tell clients your email may be delayed.
- Watch out for scams. Outages are prime time for fake "Microsoft support" calls and phishing emails asking you to "verify your account". Microsoft doesn't cold-call people offering tech support, so hang up on anyone who does. Read our guides to spotting fake agent scam calls and using passkeys to protect your accounts.
- Don't share every viral screenshot. "Microsoft hacked" claims are going around. Run them through our fake news checklist first.
Why the Microsoft Outage Is Trending So Hard
Because basically every office runs on it. Microsoft 365 is how companies send email, share files and hold meetings, so when it breaks, the whole world notices at once. The timing made it worse for India: the outage peaked just before midnight IST, and it was still unresolved when the Friday workday started. NDTV says memes flooded the internet, including one that's peak 2026: "Got another Microsoft outage before GTA 6". (If you're on team GTA, here's our GTA 6 release date and India price guide.)
FAQ
Is Outlook down today?
Yes, for many users. A Microsoft 365 outage that started on 12 November 2026 is affecting Outlook email through Exchange Online. As of 9:18 AM IST on 13 November, Microsoft was still working on a fix.
Why is Microsoft Teams not working?
Teams depends on Exchange Online for some features. Microsoft says messaging and meetings were largely working, but features linked to email, calendars and files may fail during the outage.
What caused the Microsoft outage?
Microsoft says a number of servers became unexpectedly unavailable and failed automated health checks, which overloaded the remaining infrastructure. It has not named a final root cause.
Was the Microsoft outage a cyber-attack?
No sign of one. Microsoft said it had no indication of a cyber-attack, according to The Guardian and BBC.
Is the Microsoft outage affecting India?
Yes. Mathrubhumi reports 808 Outlook complaints on Downdetector in India by 6:55 AM IST on 13 November, plus reports for Microsoft 365, Teams and Copilot.
When will Outlook be back?
Microsoft has not given a timeline for full recovery. It says recovery is gradual as servers are restored and traffic is rerouted. Check status.cloud.microsoft or @MSFT365Status for live updates.
Keep Reading on Factash
- Notion AI data breach: what leaked and what to do
- DreamHost data breach: FTP and webmail exposed
- How to secure your home Wi-Fi router in 2026
- What are passkeys? Explained simply
- More Technology news
Source: facts in this post are from the official Microsoft 365 Status account on X (main source; see the first Exchange Online update and the latest update), BBC News, The Guardian, CNBC, AP, CNA, Moneycontrol, Mathrubhumi, IANS and NDTV. Last checked 13 November 2026, 9:25 AM IST. This is a developing story.
Image credits
- Featured graphic: original Factash design.
- IST outage timeline graphic: original Factash design (data from @MSFT365Status, BBC News, Mathrubhumi).
- Outage user safety guide graphic: original Factash design.
