Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft apps

The company said it would begin ”redistributing” traffic to help balance the load.Chesnot / GettyShareAdd NBC News to GoogleNov. 12, 2026, 2:25 PM EST / Source: The Associated PressBy The Associated PressCHICAGO — A widespread outage hit Microsoft platforms including Outlook on Thursday, with many users encountering trouble using their email accounts and other errors across the tech giant’s suite of apps.

As of around 1:30 p.m. ET, more than 120,000 users on outage tracker Downdetector reported problems accessing Outlook — with many saying they couldn’t send and receive emails, or encountering delays. Thousands also reported issues with Microsoft’s workplace messaging app Teams, as well as its AI assistant Copilot and wider Microsoft 365 services.

Microsoft said that it was investigating.

Microsoft did not immediately provide further information. Earlier in the day, the company said it had “successfully restored” problems related to Microsoft Teams in North America, although some users continued to report connectivity issues.