Microsoft 365 Global Outage Disrupts Outlook and Teams Services

A global service outage for Microsoft 365 disrupted critical digital tools on November 12, 2026, impacting users across North America, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The disruption affected several major platforms, including Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Copilot, and the Microsoft Store. Microsoft confirmed that the incident resulted from high load on its distributed infrastructure in multiple regions following recent platform adjustments.

Scope of service disruption

The outage impacted a wide range of essential productivity tools and services. Users experienced failures in Outlook, Hotmail, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, and the Microsoft Store. The disruption reached a peak in various regions, with Downdetector recording a peak of complaints at 13:00 local time (18:00 GMT). In Mexico, failures began around 11:30 a.m. and were concentrated in Mexico City, Querétaro, and Guadalajara, according to Vanguardia.

The scale of the disruption was significant for both individual and institutional users. Vanguardia recorded more than 130,000 simultaneous global reports during the incident. In Mexico, 24 Horas reported more than 46,000 notifications regarding issues with Microsoft Teams. The outage impacted various critical sectors, including healthcare, schools, government agencies, and law enforcement agencies in several countries.

Technical cause and recovery

Microsoft identified the cause of the outage as high load on its distributed infrastructure. This technical strain occurred in multiple regions following recent platform adjustments. The company tracked the incident through specific identifiers, including incident ID EX1550543 for Exchange Online and incident ID TM1550488 for Microsoft Teams. Microsoft stated that there was no evidence of malicious activity associated with this incident.

As of 9:00 a.m. ET on November 13, 2026, Microsoft stated that services were in the process of being restored and were approaching normal levels. The company noted that the issue may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region. This follows a separate, previously resolved incident involving Copilot Chat errors that occurred on November 11, 2026.

Microsoft 365 scale and context

The Microsoft 365 suite is a cloud-based collection of productivity tools that includes applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The platform maintains a massive global user base, with Microsoft reporting 450 million paid subscriptions for the Microsoft 365 suite as of January 2026.

Glossary

• Microsoft 365 — Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based collection of productivity tools that includes applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It is a suite of services that can include various integrated applications and services.
• Microsoft Teams — Microsoft Teams is a platform used to build connections, such as through the Games for Work app.
• Microsoft Copilot — Microsoft Copilot is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Microsoft AI. It is based on the Microsoft Prometheus large language model and operates on a freemium model.
• Microsoft Store — The Microsoft Store is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It serves as a unified distribution point for apps, console games, and digital videos.