Microsoft reports global outages, thousands of Outlook users affected

LATEST Nov. 12, 3:26 p.m. Microsoft announced Thursday afternoon that a “portion” of affected servers are back and running and “remaining stable so far.” It also noted that it has shifted some of its traffic to alternative pathways in some regions, producing “limited recovery.”

Reports to Downdetector have reduced significantly since a Thursday morning peak, showing around 35,000 reports as of 3:13 p.m. In its latest update, Microsoft noted that it will expand “protective traffic management measures” in some regions to reduce demand on its infrastructure.

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It did not specify where those regions are or give a timeline for complete recovery, though the news is an improvement from the company’s previous update, where it noted attempts to fix the issue had “not provided the anticipated relief.”

“As capacity is restored, users may experience a gradual recovery as their clients reconnect to the service,” the company wrote in its latest update.

Nov. 12, 11:42 a.m. Thousands of users reported problems with accessing their Microsoft 365 services Thursday morning, including Outlook email, according to Downdetector.

Microsoft confirmed reports of outages in the Americas on X. Less than 15 minutes later, it added that users in “any region” could be affected. The company determined that some of its infrastructure was experiencing “elevated load,” leading to connectivity issues across the world.

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Downdetector reported that it received reports shortly before 9:30 a.m., with outrages peaking at 10:19 a.m. with over 130,000 reports. At 10:48 a.m., Microsoft said in another post it was starting to redistribute its traffic to fix the issue.

“We’re aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact,” Microsoft posted on X at 11:12 a.m. “We’ve paused all deployments, we’re moving additional traffic off the affected infrastructure, and we’re restarting affected servers to return them to service.”

SFGATE reporters were still affected by the outage as of 11:30 a.m.

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Contact tech reporter Matthew Brown at matthew.brown@sfgate.com or matthewbrownsfgate.11 on Signal.