Outlook Down: Microsoft 365 Outage Hits Outlook and Teams Users Worldwide on November 12
A Microsoft 365 outage left Outlook users unable to open work mailboxes on Thursday evening India time. Here is what Microsoft said, who was hit and what to do.
Photo: Joshua Tree National Park / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Pune, 13th November 2026: Microsoft’s Outlook and other Microsoft 365 services went down for many users around the world on Thursday, November 12, with people unable to open their work and school mailboxes. Problems began shortly before 10 am New York time, about 8:30 pm in India, and reports on Downdetector crossed 130,000, according to Parade.
“Outlook down” and “outlook outage” were among the top searches on Google Trends India on Thursday night, as offices in Pune and other cities with US clients felt the impact.
What Microsoft said
Microsoft’s @MSFT365Status account said it was investigating reports of users “experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods”. The incident is listed as EX1550543 in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. Microsoft first described it as affecting the Americas, then said it could affect users in any region.
By 20:23 UTC on Thursday (1:53 am IST on Friday), Microsoft said servers were failing automated health checks and that it was restoring affected servers and testing a configuration change, Tom’s Guide reported. It had paused new deployments while it investigated. It had not declared the outage fully fixed at that point.
Which services were affected
Microsoft’s own incident listed these services:
- Exchange Online (work and school email through Outlook)
- Microsoft Teams
- SharePoint Online
- Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Microsoft Defender XDR
Personal Outlook.com accounts were not part of a separate announced incident. Microsoft has described this as a problem with reaching mailboxes, not with delivering mail, and has not said that any emails were lost.
Why it hit Pune offices at night
The outage started in the US morning, which was Thursday evening in India. Many IT and back-office teams in Hinjawadi, Kharadi, Magarpatta and Baner work US shifts and use Microsoft 365 for mail and Teams calls.
What you can do during an Outlook outage
1. Check the official status first. Look at the Microsoft 365 service health page or the @MSFT365Status account before changing any settings.
2. Do not reset your password or reinstall Outlook. It will not help during a server-side outage and can lock you out.
3. Try Outlook on the web at outlook.office.com, or the phone app, as one connection method sometimes works when another fails.
4. Use a backup channel for urgent work, such as a phone call or a secondary email, and tell clients about the delay.
5. Resend important emails later. Once service returns, check your Outbox and Sent folders for anything that did not go.
Is Outlook working now?
Microsoft said it was restoring servers in the early hours of Friday, India time. If you still cannot connect, your company’s IT team can see the latest notes on EX1550543 in the admin centre. We will update this story when Microsoft confirms full recovery and a cause.
For more technology news, see our tech section. If you rely on mobile networks for backup, our story on TRAI’s Network Anubhav tool shows how to check coverage in your area.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Outlook down on November 12?
Microsoft said servers handling Exchange Online were failing automated health checks, which blocked mailbox access. It had not published a final root cause.
Which Microsoft services were affected?
Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Defender XDR were listed in Microsoft’s incident.
When did the Outlook outage start in India?
Problems began shortly before 10 am New York time on 12 November, which is about 8:30 pm IST.
Were emails lost during the Outlook outage?
Microsoft described it as a mailbox access problem and has not said that any messages were lost.
