Microsoft has apologised to customers and business partners after a widespread global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft 365 services, confirming that a technical issue linked to an earlier network capacity upgrade triggered the disruption.
In an official post on X on November 13, Microsoft said it was seeing broad recovery and stability across its services, while work continued to restore access for customers and regions still affected. The company said the underlying issue had been addressed and ruled out a cyberattack or any connection to artificial intelligence (AI) or AI agents.
“We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners,” Microsoft said in its official statement on X, adding that it takes the trust customers place in its services extremely seriously.
The outage began on November 12 and continued into the following day, disrupting workplace communication and cloud-based applications across multiple countries. Microsoft's explanation has now identified a technical issue associated with an earlier network capacity upgrade as the source of the incident.
Network Change Exposed an Earlier Technical Issue
According to Microsoft's X post, the problem was introduced during an earlier network capacity upgrade but surfaced after a more recent network change. The company said it had addressed the underlying issue but was continuing recovery efforts for customers experiencing residual disruption.
The outage centred on Exchange Online, Microsoft's cloud-based email and calendar platform. Several servers unexpectedly became unavailable, placing additional pressure on the remaining infrastructure. Some restored servers also struggled when traffic returned, complicating efforts to bring services back to normal.
Microsoft said it restored services gradually, validating stability at each stage before bringing more customers and regions back online. While this approach extended the recovery process, the company said it helped ensure a more stable restoration.
Microsoft has promised to publish a detailed post-incident report once its review is complete. That report is expected to provide further information about the technical failure and the measures planned to prevent similar incidents.
Outlook and Teams Among Affected Services
Outlook experienced significant disruption, with users reporting problems opening mailboxes, sending and receiving emails, and accessing calendar functions. Parts of Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365 Copilot were also affected, alongside other connected workplace services.
The impact varied across applications depending on their reliance on Exchange Online and the affected infrastructure. Some users experienced intermittent connectivity, while others faced delayed messages or difficulties accessing cloud-dependent features.
Downdetector recorded more than 130,000 Outlook problem reports in the United States at the outage's peak, with complaints emerging across dozens of countries and territories. These figures represent user-submitted reports rather than a confirmed count of affected customers.
Indian Businesses Face Email Disruption
The outage also affected organisations in India. IndiGo and Akasa Air warned that emails sent to their customer support teams could be delayed or fail to reach them. Air India said it had rerouted incoming emails and that its flight operations remained unaffected.
The incident highlighted the dependence of businesses on cloud-based communication platforms, where a technical failure can disrupt customer service and routine operations across multiple regions.
Microsoft's latest update indicates that recovery is progressing, although some customers and regions may continue to experience residual issues. The company has not provided a definitive timeline for every affected service to return to normal.
For Microsoft, the next step will be to complete recovery and publish its post-incident findings. For businesses, the outage serves as a reminder that even widely used cloud platforms can face infrastructure failures with consequences extending well beyond email.
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