Microsoft 365 outage hits Teams, Outlook and Azure for over 12 hours
A widespread server problem has disrupted Microsoft's cloud services across more than 74 countries, with the NHS among the affected organisations. Microsoft says the cause is overloaded servers, not a cyberattack.
Key takeaways
- Microsoft's cloud services, including Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365, Azure, OneNote, OneDrive and Microsoft ToDo, have been down for more than 12 hours.
- Microsoft says the cause is overloaded servers and machines that are not communicating properly, not a cyberattack.
- Users in more than 74 countries are affected, including city governments and the UK's National Health Service.
- The NHS warns some patients may be unable to get prescriptions during the disruption.
What has happened
Microsoft is dealing with a major outage that has knocked out many of its cloud services for more than 12 hours, according to GSMArena. The problems affect Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365 for Business and Enterprise, Azure, OneNote, OneDrive and Microsoft ToDo.
The disruption began more than 12 hours before GSMArena reported on it on 13 November 2026. Users in more than 74 countries are affected, making this one of the broader service disruptions to hit the company's platforms.
Microsoft points to overloaded servers
The company says a malicious cyberattack did not cause the issue. In a statement, it described a situation in which its servers are overloaded and some machines are not communicating properly with each other.
Microsoft says it is applying several fixes. These include attempts to increase server capacity and to repair the affected machines. The company has not given a time for a full restoration of service in the material available.
Who is affected
The outage reaches well beyond individual users. City governments around the world are among those affected, along with service providers such as the United Kingdom's National Health Service.
The NHS says some patients may be prevented from getting their prescriptions during the disruption. That highlights how dependent public services have become on cloud-based communication and scheduling tools such as Outlook and Teams.
Why it matters
Microsoft 365 sits at the centre of daily work for millions of businesses, schools and public bodies. When Teams and Outlook go down, meetings, email and shared documents stop working at the same time, and there is often no simple alternative.
The length of this outage, more than 12 hours so far, shows how difficult these faults can be to fix. Adding server capacity and repairing machines that fail to communicate takes time, and users can expect further updates from Microsoft as the work continues.
Sources
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