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Microsoft 365 Outage: Is Outlook, Teams and Copilot Back Up? Status, Cause and What to Do

By MayreDukaan Editorial TeamPublished 14 Nov 20263 min read

Illustration of a laptop showing an email inbox with a cloud warning icon

The outage began Thursday, Nov 12, 2026. Microsoft said a problem from an earlier network-capacity upgrade caused it and reported broad recovery on Nov 13. Full resolution has not been confirmed.

Short answer: Microsoft reported broad recovery and stability on the evening of Thursday–Friday, November 12–13, 2026, after an outage that hit Outlook, Exchange Online, Teams and Copilot worldwide. Microsoft said the cause was a problem introduced during an earlier network-capacity upgrade that a later network change exposed — not a cyberattack. We have not seen an official "fully resolved" notice, so if things still look wrong for you, check the live status page before troubleshooting.

This article explains what happened. It is not a live status feed. For the current state, use Microsoft's own status page linked below.

What happened

Timeline of the November 2026 Microsoft 365 outage — Original MayreDukaan graphic based on AP and BBC reporting

When (2026)	What was reported
Thu, Nov 12	Users worldwide report Outlook, Teams and Copilot problems
Nov 12–13	AP reports intermittent access and delayed email delivery could continue
Cause	Microsoft: an issue from an earlier network-capacity upgrade, exposed by a later change
Nov 13, evening	Microsoft reports broad recovery and stability

Which services were affected

Outlook / Exchange Online — sign-in failures, empty inboxes and delayed mail
Microsoft Teams — chats, calls and meetings failing to load
Microsoft 365 Copilot — not responding or erroring

Was it a hack?

No. Microsoft said the cause was a network change, and there was no indication of malicious activity.

How to check Microsoft 365 status yourself

Five-step checklist to check whether Microsoft 365 is down — Original MayreDukaan graphic

Public status page: open status.cloud.microsoft. It shows major incidents for everyone.
Service health (admins): in the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to *Health > Service health*. This shows incidents affecting your organization, often in more detail than the public page.
Try Outlook on the web. If mail works in a browser but not in the desktop app, the problem is probably on your computer.
Try another network or device — your phone on mobile data is a quick test.
If Microsoft shows no incident, follow our Outlook and Teams fixes guide.

Delayed emails: will they arrive?

During mail-delivery incidents, messages are usually queued and delivered later rather than lost. Before you resend an important email, check your Sent Items and ask the recipient — resending too quickly can create duplicates.

How to avoid losing work during an outage

Save documents locally (*File > Save a copy*) if OneDrive sync is failing.
Copy long Teams messages or emails into a text file before pressing Send.
Keep a phone number for key contacts so you are not dependent on Teams.
For deadlines, tell people another way that email is delayed.

Key facts

Start: Thursday, November 12, 2026
Affected: Outlook/Exchange Online, Teams, Copilot
Cause (Microsoft): network-capacity upgrade issue; not a cyberattack
Status Nov 13: broad recovery; full resolution not confirmed by us

Frequently asked questions

Is Outlook down right now?

Check status.cloud.microsoft for the live answer. Microsoft reported broad recovery on Nov 13, 2026.

What caused the Microsoft 365 outage?

Microsoft said a problem introduced during an earlier network-capacity upgrade, exposed by a later network change.

Was the Microsoft outage a cyberattack?

No. Microsoft said there was no indication of malicious activity.

Will my delayed emails be delivered?

Usually yes; queued mail is delivered once service recovers. Check Sent Items before resending.

Useful on MayreDukaan

Sources

Facts last checked against these sources on Nov 13, 2026, 9:14 PM ET.

Images: Illustration created for MayreDukaan (not a news photo) · Original MayreDukaan graphic