What to know about Microsoft's outage and why it takes so long to restore email services
Also reported by BBC Tech, Al Jazeera, Axios, Guardian World, CBS News, The Hill, France24, Newsweek, Guardian Business, ABC News
Summary
A Microsoft 365 outage that began on Nov. 12, 2026, disrupted Teams, Copilot and Outlook for businesses, governments and schools around the world. Microsoft said on Nov. 13 that service availability was improving, but some users could still face intermittent access problems or delayed email. Email can take longer to recover because other providers keep sending messages and retrying delivery, creating queues that must clear after service returns.Key Facts
- The outage affected Microsoft 365 services, including Teams, Copilot and Outlook.
- Microsoft reported improving service availability on Nov. 13, while warning that some users might still have access problems or delayed email.
- The outage affected businesses, governments and schools around the world.
- Email uses a store-and-forward system that holds messages when a recipient's provider is unreachable.
- Senders on other email platforms can continue sending messages to affected Microsoft accounts during an outage.
- Other providers may hold messages in outbound queues and repeatedly retry delivery.
- After service returns, queued messages and accumulated traffic can delay a return to normal email delivery.
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