{
  "id": 19699491,
  "title": "Microsoft 365, Outlook hit by major outage; global impact possible",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/microsoft-365-outlook-hit-by-major-outage-global-impact-possible",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-12T19:03:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Gulf News",
    "slug": "gulf-news",
    "url": "https://gulfnews.com/technology/companies/microsoft-365-outlook-hit-by-major-outage-global-impact-possible-1.500745637"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Microsoft is currently investigating a significant outage impacting Outlook, Exchange Online, and other Microsoft 365 services, with thousands of users experiencing difficulties accessing their email on Thursday, November 12. The issue first affected Exchange Online users in the Americas, causing problems connecting to mailboxes via multiple methods. According to Downdetector, a large number of users in the United States reported disruptions, which could potentially extend to the UAE as well. Microsoft later revealed that the disruption might affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity in any region globally, though the specific impact on the UAE has not been independently confirmed.\n\nThe root cause of the outage appears to be connectivity errors within part of Microsoft's Exchange Online infrastructure, responsible for processing user access requests. Microsoft is currently investigating these errors through network logs to determine their origin and the necessary steps to restore normal service. Elevated loads across multiple regions have been observed, contributing to the connectivity issues.\n\nThe affected services include Exchange Online, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Microsoft Defender XDR. Microsoft has not set a confirmed time for the restoration of services, but they are actively working to resolve the issue. Administrators are directed to the Microsoft 365 admin centre for ongoing updates. This incident has been referenced under the reference EX1550543.",
  "summary": "Microsoft is investigating a major outage affecting Outlook, Exchange Online and other Microsoft 365 services, with thousands of users reporting difficulties accessing email on Thursday, November 12. The company initially acknowledged problems affecting Exchange Online users in the Americas, including difficulties connecting to mailboxes through multiple methods. Get updated faster and for FREE:…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 6,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "Microsoft 365, Outlook down for thousands of US users, Downdetector shows",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/microsoft-365-outlook-down-for-thousands-of-us-users-downdetector",
        "published": "2026-11-12T18:32:48.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The National UAE",
        "title": "Outlook email outage affects users around the world",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/outlook-email-outage-affects-users-around-the-world",
        "published": "2026-11-12T18:34:11.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "CityNews",
        "title": "Widespread outage hits Outlook, other Microsoft apps",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/widespread-outage-hits-outlook-other-microsoft-apps",
        "published": "2026-11-12T19:21:01.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Guardian",
        "title": "Global Microsoft outage affecting Outlook and Teams users, with company ‘restarting’ servers",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/global-microsoft-outage-affecting-outlook-and-teams-users-with",
        "published": "2026-11-12T21:00:07.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News (US)",
        "title": "Outlook outage: Microsoft reports 'issues' with Teams and email",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/outlook-outage-microsoft-reports-issues-with-teams-and-email",
        "published": "2026-11-12T21:00:57.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}