BERLIN, GERMANY - APRIL 22: The logo of the software Microsoft Outlook is shown on the display of a smartphone on April 22, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)
NEW YORK - Millions of workers logging on for the day should start seeing incremental improvements as Microsoft gradually restores traffic following a massive global outage that knocked out Outlook, Teams and Copilot.
Potential return timeline
What we know:
While there is still no exact time for full global restoration, Microsoft reported Friday morning that it has completed recovery actions across portions of its affected infrastructure. As of 6:11 a.m. EST, the company said it is gradually restoring traffic and seeing improvements in mailbox access and delayed email processing.
However, Microsoft cautioned that capacity has not yet fully returned to normal, and users may still face intermittent connection issues as engineers work to stabilize the remaining offline servers. To ensure backlogged messages are not lost during the disruption, Microsoft extended its email timeout window to 48 hours.
How the outage started
The backstory:
The disruption began around 11:15 a.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 12, when an overwhelmed core process caused servers to crash and drop out of rotation, triggering a cascading capacity failure.
At the peak of the disruption, outage tracker Downdetector recorded more than 130,000 problem reports from users unable to load their inboxes or send messages.
Microsoft Outlook problems reported in the last 24 hours, as of 6:36 a.m. Friday. (Photo: Downdetector)
Microsoft confirmed that it has found no indication of malicious activity or a cyberattack, stating that the issue is strictly tied to server infrastructure.
Who is impacted
What they're saying:
The outage has affected Microsoft 365 enterprise and personal users worldwide. Beyond everyday office workers, the disruption hit government ministries and agencies across the United States, Japan and Australia.
In the United Kingdom, hospitals reported that email services were knocked offline, though medical procedures continued as planned. Trading firms, airlines and emergency services also reported widespread communications delays stemming from the ongoing outage.
What we don't know:
Even after completing recovery actions across portions of its affected infrastructure Friday morning, Microsoft has still not provided a timeline for when Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services will return to full capacity. Because engineers are restoring traffic in phases and extending fixes to the remaining offline servers, it remains unclear when individual users and workplaces will stop seeing intermittent connection issues.
Microsoft has also not yet pinpointed the exact technical trigger behind the outage. While the company said its investigation points to a specific server-health component causing machines to fail automated health checks—and confirmed it found no correlation with any recent software change—officials have not detailed what initially caused those servers to drop offline on Thursday.
Additionally, Microsoft has not disclosed the total number of people, businesses or government agencies affected globally, and it remains unclear how long it will take for all backlogged messages to finish clearing after the company extended its email timeout window to 48 hours.
The Source: This article was written using reporting from CBS News, Insurance Journal, Mashable, and official Microsoft service updates.