Global Microsoft 365 Disruption Impacts Exchange, Teams, and Copilot Services

A major global Microsoft 365 disruption that began on Thursday, November 12, continues to impact users worldwide, restricting access to email, Teams functionality, and Copilot features. Downdetector recorded nearly 130,000 Outlook incident reports shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern time, with the disruption stretching across corporate and government operations, including confirmed impacts on government IT infrastructure in Japan.

Core Services and Third-Party Clients Affected

Exchange Online remains at the center of the technical incident, causing difficulties for users attempting to open mailboxes via Outlook on the web, desktop, and mobile applications, alongside significant message delays. Because the failure stems from Microsoft's underlying infrastructure, third-party clients like Apple Mail and connected AI services are also encountering connectivity problems. While Microsoft Teams remains partially online for calling and messaging, users continue to face errors related to calendar management, meeting scheduling, and invitations.

Microsoft Response and Mitigation Efforts

Microsoft has reported progress in parts of the Asia Pacific region, gradually expanding recovery operations and capacity to other affected areas. To safeguard delayed messages during the clearing of system backlogs, the company has temporarily extended the email timeout window to 48 hours. Officials have confirmed no indication of malicious activity linked to the incident, though a definitive timeline for full service restoration has not yet been established.