Microsoft services, including Outlook, Teams and Copilot, experienced widespread disruptions on Thursday, leaving thousands of users struggling to access their accounts and use several applications across the company’s platform.
According to outage-tracking website Downdetector, nearly 130,000 users reported problems with Outlook shortly after 1 p.m. ET. Although the number of complaints subsequently declined, users continued to report difficulties accessing their inboxes, sending emails and receiving messages.
The disruption also affected Microsoft’s workplace communication platform Teams, its artificial intelligence assistant Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services, with thousands of users reporting connectivity problems.
Microsoft acknowledged the disruptions and said it was investigating issues affecting several services, particularly Outlook and Teams.
In updates shared on social media, the Redmond, Washington-based technology company said it was aware that users across the Americas were experiencing difficulties accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods.
Providing further details, Microsoft said a portion of its infrastructure was experiencing elevated load, which was likely contributing to the connectivity problems.
The company also identified several servers that had become unexpectedly unavailable after failing automated checks, potentially worsening the disruption.
Microsoft did not immediately disclose what had caused the servers to fail but said it was testing a fix to address the problem.
“We’re aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact,” the Microsoft 365 Status account said in a post on X.
Earlier, Microsoft had announced that it had successfully restored services affected by a separate disruption involving Teams in North America. However, some users continued to report connectivity issues even after the company announced the recovery.
The latest disruption comes as Microsoft’s cloud-based services remain widely used by businesses and individuals worldwide for email, workplace communication, collaboration and productivity.
