Microsoft outage disrupts Outlook email for thousands of users

A widespread service disruption struck Microsoft platforms on Thursday, causing email delays and connection errors for users across the Americas. The outage affected Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and other applications within the Microsoft 365 suite.

At its peak just after 1 p.m. ET, nearly 130,000 users reported issues on the outage tracker Downdetector. Many individuals stated they could not send or receive messages or load their inboxes. Report volume decreased after that peak, but thousands of users still experienced difficulties with Teams and the Copilot AI assistant.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, confirmed it was investigating the disruptions. The company noted that users in the Americas were experiencing trouble accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods. A portion of the company's infrastructure was under elevated load, which contributed to the connectivity errors.

The root cause involved specific servers that became unexpectedly unavailable. These systems failed during automated health checks, according to Microsoft. The company did not immediately specify what triggered the failure in those checks.

Microsoft later announced it was testing a fix and deploying an alternative method for health checks to bring the impacted servers back online. The Microsoft 365 Status account on X stated the company was aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce the impact on users.

Earlier in the day, Microsoft reported that it had successfully restored services for Microsoft Teams in North America. Despite this update, some users continued to report lingering connectivity issues with the platform.