Texas Border Business
Microsoft experienced a widespread service outage Thursday, November 12, 2026, disrupting Outlook email and other Microsoft 365 applications used by businesses, organizations, and individuals across the United States.
The disruption prevented many users from accessing their email accounts, sending or receiving messages, and loading their inboxes. Problems were also reported with Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, Copilot and other services.
According to Downdetector, which collects reports of service interruptions, more than 130,000 Outlook problem reports were recorded around 1:27 p.m. Eastern Time. More than 46,000 reports involved Microsoft 365, while thousands of users reported difficulties with Teams.
The figures represent reports submitted to the monitoring service and do not necessarily reflect the total number of affected users.
Microsoft acknowledged the disruption through its official Microsoft 365 Status account on X, formerly Twitter.
“We’re investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas,” the company stated.
Exchange Online is Microsoft’s cloud-based email service, which supports Outlook accounts for businesses and organizations.
Microsoft said its investigation found that some servers had become unexpectedly unavailable after failing automated system checks. The resulting reduction in available capacity placed additional pressure on other servers, contributing to connection problems.
The company began restarting affected servers, redirecting network traffic, and testing technical changes intended to restore normal operations.
“We’ve paused all deployments. We’re moving additional traffic off the affected infrastructure, and we’re restarting affected servers to return them to service,” Microsoft said in an update.
The company also warned that connectivity problems could affect Microsoft 365 users outside the Americas.
Earlier Thursday, Microsoft said it had restored service after a separate disruption involving Teams in North America. However, problems affecting Outlook and other Microsoft 365 applications continued.
Outage reports began declining after reaching their peak, according to Downdetector, although that decrease did not confirm that services were fully restored.
Microsoft had not announced a confirmed time for complete restoration as of Thursday afternoon.
The company said it was continuing to investigate the technical failures while implementing measures to restore affected systems.
Users and business administrators can monitor developments through Microsoft’s official Microsoft 365 Status account at https://x.com/MSFT365Status” title=”@MSFT365Status”/> or through the Microsoft 365 administration center.
The interruption affected services commonly used for business communications, email correspondence, document sharing, and workplace collaboration.
Microsoft said its priority remained restoring access and reducing the disruption for affected customers.
