|
    Theme
    Tech Verified Story

    Microsoft outage drags on for hours, disrupting Outlook, Teams for thousands

    Saba Qamar•November 13, 2026• 2 min read
    Text Size
    Microsoft outage drags on for hours, disrupting Outlook, Teams for thousands
    Tech CoverageAman-e-Pakistan Digital Desk
    Key Story Executive Summary
    Quick Read

    “Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams and other apps of the company (MSFT.O) remained disrupted for thousands of users for more than five ​hours on Thursday, with the outage also hitting connectors used by Op…”

    As of 6 p.m. ET, Microsoft said it was still working to return affected servers to service, and had observed limited recovery as users gradually reconnected. Reports of Outlook ​problems peaked at 138,058 around 1 p.m. ET and had fallen to ​around 34,490 by evening,.

    The company had earlier in ⁠the day pointed to a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable for the ​elevated load and not an increase in traffic. "We are aware and investigating reports of ​users experiencing issues with Microsoft 365 services, primarily issues with Exchange Online," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

    By 5:47 p.m. ET, the number of reports of problems with Microsoft 365 had fallen to nearly ​13,000 user, while there were 763 reports of users having trouble accessing Teams, according ​to Downdetector.

    Key Story Takeaway

    "Stay connected with Aman-e-Pakistan for ongoing live reporting and verified investigative updates."

    The tech giant had then said the restored servers had remained stable so far and ‌that ⁠it was shifting traffic to alternate routes wherever possible while streamlining the process to bring the remaining impacted servers back online. "As capacity is restored, users may experience a gradual recovery as their clients reconnect," Microsoft said in a statement.

    BUSINESSES FEEL THE IMPACTOpenAI ​said it was ​investigating an issue ⁠with Microsoft connectors in which new connections may be broken and tools are not working as expected. Anthropic said it had identified ​an issue with an upstream provider affecting its Microsoft 365 connector.

    Microsoft last ​month reported ⁠an outage of its Azure cloud platform that impacted the tech giant's suite of productivity software, and a range of industries worldwide. Electric truck maker Workhorse Group (WKHS.O), which was ⁠expected to ​report third-quarter results on November 12, rescheduled it ​to November 16 citing business disruptions caused by the global Microsoft outage.

    S

    Written by Saba Qamar

    Aman-e-Pakistan Senior Journalist & Bureau Reporter

    Fact Checked & Verified

    Continue Reading: More in Tech

    Swipe or click arrows to explore Tech desk coverage

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns in blow to AI boom he helped fosterTech

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns in blow to AI boom he helped foster

    Read Story
    Autonomous warfare and twenty-minute soldierTech

    Autonomous warfare and twenty-minute soldier

    Read Story
    Tik. Tok-owner Byte. Dance plans buyback at $400 billion valuationTech

    Tik. Tok-owner Byte. Dance plans buyback at $400 billion valuation

    Read Story
    China's access to Nvidia chips in doubt as curbs gain traction in US CongressTech

    China's access to Nvidia chips in doubt as curbs gain traction in US Congress

    Read Story
    SpaceX plans over $74 billion investment in Texas, Arizona AI campusesTech

    SpaceX plans over $74 billion investment in Texas, Arizona AI campuses

    Read Story
    White House weighs Commerce Secretary Lutnick's ousterTech

    White House weighs Commerce Secretary Lutnick's ouster

    Read Story