Microsoft is continuing efforts to restore its Microsoft 365 services after a global outage disrupted several enterprise applications, with recovery efforts facing challenges as some restored servers become unresponsive when user traffic returns. The outage, which began on November 12, 2026, continued into November 13 and affected multiple Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Defender XDR. Microsoft has been providing regular updates while engineering teams work on multiple recovery measures to stabilize affected infrastructure. The company has stated that it is not aware of any malicious activity causing the incident and continues investigating the underlying technical issue.
The disruption initially affected Exchange Online mailbox access in the Americas before expanding to users across multiple regions. Microsoft later confirmed that the issue was impacting Microsoft 365 service connectivity globally. The company is tracking the incident through identifiers EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center. During recovery efforts, Microsoft engineers attempted to restore affected servers and redirect traffic to alternative routes, but some restored systems became unstable after receiving normal user demand. The company stated that teams are analyzing diagnostic information to understand the reason behind the repeated server failures and identify measures that can provide consistent service availability. Microsoft has not confirmed a final root cause for the outage.
As part of its response, Microsoft has introduced several recovery measures, including limiting certain traffic types reaching affected infrastructure, rebuilding a subset of servers using previous configurations, and adjusting traffic routing methods to improve capacity and stability. The company has reported partial recovery in regions where these measures have been applied, although some users may continue experiencing intermittent service issues during the restoration process. Microsoft has also expanded testing in controlled environments to improve traffic monitoring and issue detection. The decision to rebuild some servers using earlier configurations indicates that engineers are examining whether recent infrastructure changes may have contributed to the instability, although the company has not confirmed this as the cause.
The outage has affected organizations and users across different regions, with service monitoring platforms recording a significant increase in reported problems, particularly for Outlook. Microsoft’s service health updates listed Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Defender, Planner, To Do, Intune, Purview, and Power BI among the impacted services. Some features that do not depend on Exchange Online continued operating normally. The disruption also affected third party services that rely on Microsoft 365 integrations, with some organizations reporting issues related to connected applications. Microsoft has maintained an extended 48 hour email timeout window to help preserve delayed messages while email processing recovers and backlogs are cleared.
Microsoft has reported continued improvement across affected Microsoft 365 services, with recovery expanding across parts of the impacted infrastructure. The company confirmed progress in restoring Exchange Online mailbox access and improving delayed email processing, while engineers continue working to stabilize remaining affected environments. Users may still experience temporary access problems and delayed email delivery as recovery actions continue. Microsoft has advised administrators to monitor official service updates through the Microsoft 365 admin center or alternative status channels and avoid unnecessary configuration changes while the company completes restoration activities. The company plans to provide a detailed post incident review after mitigation efforts are completed, including information about the cause of the outage and measures planned to strengthen service reliability.
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