Is Microsoft Outlook down? Company investigates error reports from users

Technology Is Microsoft Outlook down? Company investigates error reports from users Microsoft 365 confirmed just before noon that it had received reports from users who were experiencing issues accessing their Exchange Online mailboxes. By Alex Dvorak • Published November 12, 2026 • Updated 3 hours ago Having trouble accessing your Microsoft Outlook email? You're likely not alone. Stream NBC 5 for free, 24/7, wherever you are. WATCH HERE Microsoft 365 confirmed just before noon Thursday that it had received reports from users who were experiencing issues accessing their Exchange Online mailboxes "through multiple connection methods in the Americas." We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas. More details can be found in the Microsoft 365 admin center under EX1550543. — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) November 12, 2026 The website DownDetector indicated a large spike in people reporting errors with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365 just before noon. Reports peaked at just over 130,000 people experiencing issues with Outlook around 12:20 p.m., with Chicago, Seattle and New York among the hot spots in the U.S. By 3 p.m., reports had significantly dipped but more than 56,000 users were still reporting issues. Reports of issues with Microsoft 365 followed a similar trend, with reports peaking at just above 45,000 around 12:25 p.m., and dropping to roughly 19,700 by 3 p.m. In subsequent posts on social media, Microsoft said it determined that the issues were happening in part because a "portion of infrastructure is experiencing elevated load across multiple regions," and that the company was "redistributing connection traffic across our broader worldwide infrastructure to help balance the load." Local NBC 5 Investigates 32 minutes ago Tentative agreement could save troubled suburban hospital, physicians say Chicago 2 hours ago Coors Light makes sly nod to viral Chicago bean push: ‘Literally moving mountains' Microsoft also said it was "aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact." We determined the elevated load isn't driven by an increase in traffic, but by a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable; straining the remaining infrastructure. We're working to safely return them to service. More info under EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365… — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) November 12, 2026 Some servers were able to be restored after the company "validated an alternative service health check method, which allowed a subset of affected servers to successfully return to service" --- a change Microsoft said around 3 p.m. they were applying more broadly. We've validated an alternative service health check method, which allowed a subset of affected servers to successfully return to service. We're now applying this change more broadly. We're also preparing automated recovery systems to continually detect and restart unresponsive… — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) November 12, 2026 Check back for more on this developing story. This article tagged under: Technology