Microsoft Outlook Outage Enters Second Day: Restored Servers Fail Again, Microsoft Rules Out Cyberattack
The Microsoft 365 outage that began on Thursday evening India time stretched into Friday. Microsoft says there is no sign of a cyberattack and is rolling back a network change.
Photo: Rameshng / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pune, 13th November 2026: The Microsoft 365 outage that knocked out Outlook email for users around the world on Thursday carried on into Friday, November 13, with servers that Microsoft had restored failing again, Al Jazeera reported. Microsoft said it had only “marginal success” in restoring service and gave no time for full recovery.
The company has ruled out a cyberattack. Charles Lamanna, Microsoft’s executive vice-president for Copilot, agents and platform, said on X there was “no indication” of malicious or cyber activity.
Timeline of the outage
| Time (IST) | What happened |
|---|---|
| Thursday, about 9:30 pm | Users begin reporting Outlook problems; reports soon come from 74 countries |
| Thursday night | Microsoft confirms incident EX1550543, first in the Americas, then “any region” |
| Early Friday | Microsoft says servers are failing automated health checks and tests a configuration fix |
| Friday, about 12:30 pm | Downdetector still shows at least 43,000 Outlook reports from 72 countries |
| Friday | Restored servers fail again; Microsoft rolls back a network change |
What caused it
Microsoft has not published a root cause. It said a number of servers became unexpectedly unavailable and that the load was not caused by a rise in traffic, according to Al Jazeera. On Friday it was rolling back a network change, without saying whether that change caused the failure. Earlier, the company told Tom’s Guide that servers were failing automated health checks.
Al Jazeera also reported that Microsoft told Australia’s Home Affairs Minister the issue looked similar to a faulty update, like the CrowdStrike incident of 2024.
Who was affected
Outlook on the web, desktop and mobile was hit hardest, and many emails that did arrive came in late. Teams and Copilot were partly affected, though Teams chats and calls largely kept working. Government systems in Singapore and Japan, the Supreme Court of the Philippines and Australian federal agencies were disrupted, as were integrations used by other companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the report.
What it means for Pune offices
The outage began on Thursday evening India time and ran through Friday’s working day. IT teams in Hinjawadi, Kharadi, Magarpatta and Baner that rely on Microsoft 365 for email faced a second day of disruption. If your company uses Outlook:
- Outlook desktop may still show emails already downloaded, so do not clear the cache.
- Use phone calls, WhatsApp or a backup email for urgent client work.
- Do not reset passwords or reinstall Outlook; it will not fix a server-side outage.
- Check your Outbox once service returns and resend anything stuck.
We first reported the outage on Thursday in Outlook down: Microsoft 365 outage. We will update this story when Microsoft confirms full recovery and the cause. More in our tech section.
Frequently asked questions
Is Outlook still down?
As of Friday 13 November, Microsoft reported only limited success in restoring Outlook and gave no time for full recovery.
Was the Microsoft outage a cyberattack?
No. Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna said there was no indication of malicious or cyber activity.
What caused the Microsoft 365 outage?
Microsoft has not given a root cause. It said servers became unexpectedly unavailable, and it rolled back a network change.
Which Microsoft services were affected?
Outlook was hit hardest; Teams and Copilot were partly affected.
