As of 6:04 AM EST / 11:04 AM UTC, Friday 13 November 2026: Microsoft's status page still lists it as a service degradation. Microsoft has confirmed that users may be unable to connect to their Exchange Online mailboxes, which leaves Outlook down for many users on the web, desktop and mobile, along with several other Microsoft 365 services. The incident is not resolved, and Microsoft has not given a time for full recovery.
Is Outlook down today?
Yes, for many Microsoft 365 business accounts, Outlook may be down today. Microsoft confirms users may be unable to reach their mailboxes in Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop and mobile mail apps that use Exchange ActiveSync, and that email delivery may be delayed. To check your own account, open the Microsoft 365 status page or ask your IT admin to check Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Is Outlook down today also on a personal account? Those accounts are tracked on Microsoft's separate consumer status page, which also shows a service degradation. When we checked at 6:24 AM UTC, Outlook.com and OneDrive were listed as operational.
Microsoft 365 outage: live updates
Entries are newest first. Each one restates what Microsoft posted on its Microsoft 365 status page The reported start comes from news coverage. Microsoft also posts updates on @MSFT365Status.
Time (EST / UTC) | What Microsoft confirmed |
Fri 13 Nov, 6:04 AM EST / 11:04 AM UTC | Microsoft's status page still shows a service degradation: users may be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 services. The incident is not marked resolved. |
Fri 13 Nov, 2:29 AM EST / 7:29 AM UTC | Microsoft reports positive results for server stability after applying a patch to an upstream authentication and routing configuration component on part of its infrastructure. It says it is expanding the patch to servers supporting active regions coming online, and that it is not aware of any malicious activity causing the incident. |
Fri 13 Nov, 1:57 AM EST / 6:57 AM UTC | Microsoft says it is checking server performance and confirming that patches applied after infrastructure reboots are working. It reports marginal success so far and is adding capacity using virtual machines. |
Fri 13 Nov, 1:17 AM EST / 6:17 AM UTC | Microsoft says it is evaluating traffic controls, such as throttling, protocol adjustments and failover, to improve stability in active regions, and expanding internal testing to track activity and detect issues. |
Thu 12 Nov, from about 1:00 PM EST / 6:00 PM UTC (reported) | News coverage says Downdetector reports of Outlook problems began just after 1:00 PM ET. Microsoft has not given an official start time. Microsoft later said the problem came from a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable, not from extra traffic, and that users in any region may be affected. |
Microsoft has not confirmed a root cause for the Microsoft 365 outage. It says a full report will follow once the issue is mitigated.
What's affected
This is what Microsoft lists as affected. The list can change, so check the status page for the current version. Microsoft tracks the issue under incidents EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Outlook and Exchange Online: mailbox access may fail on Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop and mobile mail apps that use Exchange ActiveSync. Email delivery may be delayed.
Microsoft Teams: calendar scheduling, invites, meeting edits and live events fail. Microsoft says calls, meetings and chat messages mostly work.
Copilot, Planner and To Do: Copilot chat may not load or answer, including for email and calendar. Planner has reliability issues with plans and tasks. To Do may not load.
Office apps and SharePoint: the recently used files list may not show. Files stored directly in SharePoint still open, but some users may have trouble sharing files with people outside their organization.
Other services: Power Apps mobile sign-in, Power BI exports with sensitivity labels to PDF, and admin and security tools such as the admin center, Intune, Defender and Purview.
Workarounds while you wait
For Outlook, Microsoft has not published a workaround. It has listed workarounds for a few other services, such as using Power Apps on the web instead of its mobile apps. Because the outage is on Microsoft's side, the steps below keep work moving while Outlook is down. They do not fix Outlook.
Check Microsoft’s status first: If the status page shows a problem with Exchange Online or Outlook, the fault is on Microsoft’s side, and fixes on your computer won’t help.
Don't rebuild your setup: Reinstalling Outlook, recreating your profile or resetting your password will not restore a service-side outage, and can add work once service returns.
Leave unsent mail in the Outbox: Outlook desktop retries sending when it can connect again. Resending the same message can create duplicates.
Expect delayed mail, not lost mail: Microsoft says delivery may be delayed. Check your inbox and Sent Items once service recovers before assuming a message is missing.
Use another channel for anything urgent: Phone, SMS or Teams chat and calls, where they work for you, can carry time-sensitive messages.
Tell customers and partners: A short Outlook down notice on your website, social channels or phone line saves people from emailing into a queue.
Recheck calendar invites afterwards: Teams scheduling and invites are listed as affected, so confirm meetings booked during the outage.
For IT admins
Track incidents EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Health > Service health. If you can't reach the admin center, the status page carries the same updates, as does @MSFT365Status.
Our suggestions (not Microsoft guidance):
Send staff one short notice that answers ‘Is Outlook down today?’: Outlook is affected by a confirmed Microsoft incident, no local fix is needed, and updates will follow.
Pause routine changes to mail settings, licences and policies until Microsoft marks the incident resolved.
Note the incident IDs EX1550543 and MO1550821, shown in your admin center and the times your users were affected. You will want them when Microsoft publishes its post-incident report.
Business systems that send email
If your ERP sends invoices, approvals or order emails through Microsoft 365, check its outgoing mail log once Microsoft confirms recovery, to see whether anything failed or is still queued. If you would like help reviewing what the outage touched, talk to a Versich consultant. You can also read about our NetSuite support services, Odoo services and other business systems work
