What we know so far about the Microsoft outage globally

The outage began on Thursday evening (November 12) and has affected users worldwide, with major disruption continuing today (Friday, November 13).

The company has traced the problem to server overloads caused by “unexpectedly unavailable” servers, which forced traffic onto other parts of its infrastructure.

More than 16 hours later, Microsoft said it was seeing “early signs” of system stabilisation but warned that capacity had “not yet returned to normal levels.”

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

What we know so far about the Microsoft outage

The outage has affected a wide range of organisations in the UK and beyond, disrupting daily operations and critical services.

Police forces across the UK have been unable to receive online reports, directing the public to call 101 or 999 for urgent matters.

The NHS has also been impacted, with potential delays reported in prescription processing.

The National Pharmacy Association has cautioned that email system disruptions could lead to delays for some patients.

Transport services have also not been spared.

National Rail said customers who purchased e-tickets after the outage began were likely to have been affected.

‼️We’re aware of the ongoing Microsoft global outage, which may be affecting customers’ ability to access their train tickets via their email inbox. 🔗Latest Information and advice can be found here: https://t.co/pYa714hR8k

— National Rail (@nationalrailenq) November 13, 2026

It said that customers may still be able to access their tickets through the website or app, provided they log in to their accounts.

Great Western Railway, Southeastern, Chiltern Railways, and London North Eastern Railway (LNER) all reported similar issues and advised customers to use their apps or online accounts to retrieve tickets.

The UK government has confirmed that it is working closely with Microsoft to assess the impact on public services.

What we don't know about the Microsoft outage

There is still no clear timeline for when Microsoft’s services will be fully restored.

A Microsoft spokesman said: "We are seeing early signs of stabilisation, but service capacity has not yet returned to normal levels and health remains variable as traffic is carefully reintroduced."

Charles Lamanna, executive vice-president at Microsoft, said the disruption does not appear to be the result of a cyber attack.

The company has acknowledged that some of its earlier attempts to resolve the issue were unsuccessful.

In its latest update, Microsoft said its main focus remains on “service stability and controlled recovery.”

The company has extended the email timeout window to 48 hours to help protect delayed messages while recovery continues.

Microsoft has promised to release a full incident report once the issue is resolved.

While the company has not confirmed the total number of users affected, it is estimated that around 430 million people use Microsoft’s tools globally.

Tens of thousands of users in more than 70 countries have reported issues on Downdetector, though the true number is likely much higher.

How have you been impacted by the Microsoft outage? Let us know in the comments.