Microsoft global outage disrupts Outlook and Teams as company struggles to restore services

Microsoft struggled to restore services after a global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, and Copilot, affecting tens of thousands of users across multiple regions.

The disruption began shortly before 1 p.m. Eastern time and affected Microsoft 365 applications, with the company blaming unexpected server failures for the connectivity problems.

What caused global Microsoft outage?

The Microsoft global outage was caused by several servers unexpectedly becoming unavailable, placing additional pressure on the company's remaining infrastructure.

Some servers also failed automated health checks, disrupting connections to Microsoft 365 applications. Microsoft initially attributed the problems to elevated infrastructure load across multiple regions before identifying the server failures.

Reports of Outlook problems peaked at nearly 140,000 around 6 p.m. GMT, according to outage-tracking website Downdetector. Users reported difficulties accessing inboxes, sending and receiving emails, and connecting to other Microsoft applications.

The disruption affected users in parts of Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. Microsoft said it was investigating the connectivity problems, particularly those involving Exchange Online, which supports Outlook's email services.

"We are aware and investigating reports of users experiencing issues with Microsoft 365 services, primarily issues with Exchange Online," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC.

"We appreciate our customers' patience while we work to restore services as soon as possible."

How is Microsoft working to restore Outlook and Teams?

Microsoft introduced several recovery measures to bring affected servers back online and reduce pressure on its infrastructure. The company also worked to prevent additional servers from becoming unavailable while engineers addressed the existing problems.

In an update posted around 4 p.m. Eastern time, Microsoft said it had validated an alternative service health-check method that allowed some affected servers to return online.

"We're now applying this change more broadly," the company said.

Microsoft also began preparing automated recovery systems to detect and restart unresponsive servers continuously. The systems were intended to maintain service stability as engineers expanded the recovery measures.

The company reported positive results from its efforts and continued working to restore normal operations. Its response also included pausing infrastructure deployments, redirecting traffic away from affected systems, and restarting servers.

However, Microsoft warned that some servers could become unresponsive again after receiving traffic, making the recovery process more difficult.

"We've taken steps to prevent additional servers from being impacted while we work to return the affected servers to service," Microsoft said in an update on X.

Which Microsoft services were affected by the outage?

The disruption affected several Microsoft 365 products, including Outlook, Teams and the company's artificial intelligence assistant Copilot. Exchange Online, which supports Outlook's email system, was among the primary services experiencing connectivity problems.

Users reported difficulties accessing email accounts and using other workplace applications. Some also experienced problems with calendars, meeting scheduling, and related functions.

Microsoft said services and features that did not depend on Exchange Online continued operating in some cases. The disruption nevertheless affected access to several widely used workplace tools.

Did Amazon Web Services and Google also experience outages?

Reports of problems involving Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google also emerged during the Microsoft outage, raising concerns about wider disruptions to internet services.

Amazon rejected reports that its infrastructure was experiencing an outage and said its services were operating normally.

In a statement on X, AWS said an "unrelated disruption elsewhere on the internet is prompting some inaccurate news reports."

The company directed users to its service health dashboard for accurate information.

Microsoft continued monitoring its infrastructure and implementing recovery measures as users waited for Outlook, Teams and other affected services to return to normal.