Microsoft outage disrupts Outlook, Teams and Copilot for thousands

Microsoft experienced a major service outage on Thursday, November 12, disrupting thousands of users, primarily affecting Outlook, Teams, and Copilot. The company is actively working to restore services after reports of access problems, particularly widespread in the Americas. By 1:30 pm Eastern time, over 120,000 US users reported Outlook difficulties, including inability to access mailboxes and send messages, with numbers exceeding 130,000. Microsoft 365 saw more than 46,000 reports, Teams around 3,000, and Copilot also faced disruption. Microsoft identified infrastructure overload as a likely cause and is redistributing traffic to rebalance load. Microsoft resolved Teams issues in North America, though some users still reported connection problems. The company has not provided an overall user estimate, and Downdetector figures may not reflect the actual number affected.