Microsoft is working to restore access to several Microsoft 365 services.
Microsoft says overloaded infrastructure across several regions is causing connectivity problems as recovery efforts continue.
A Microsoft 365 outage has disrupted access to Outlook and other services, with Microsoft reporting overloaded infrastructure across multiple regions. The company acknowledged the disruption through its support account on X.
Initial reports centred on users struggling to access Outlook email. However, Microsoft’s service updates identified a wider range of affected platforms, including Teams and SharePoint Online.
Microsoft 365 outage affects more platforms
By 2:15pm ET, Microsoft’s status page listed Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online as potentially affected services. The list also included Microsoft Copilot 365 and Microsoft Defender XDR.
The status notice focused on Business and Enterprise subscriptions. However, individual users also appeared to experience problems accessing Microsoft’s services.
By around 5pm ET, Microsoft had added Planner, To Do and Intune to the affected services list. It also listed Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft Purview.
Meanwhile, the company noted problems with Power BI and the Microsoft 365 Apps Admin Center. The disruption therefore extended beyond email and collaboration tools to several administration and security services.
Overwhelmed servers complicate recovery
Microsoft said unusually high demand on affected infrastructure was likely contributing to connectivity errors across several regions. In response, its teams began restarting and repairing affected infrastructure to restore capacity.
The company was also examining an unexpected increase in a particular type of service traffic. Investigators were checking whether that increase contributed to the overload.
At the same time, Microsoft was assessing whether redirecting traffic to alternative infrastructure could speed up recovery. However, a later update said its actions had not delivered the expected improvement.
Further investigation identified a core process that was becoming overwhelmed on affected servers. Microsoft said this caused servers to stop responding, reducing available capacity. The company continued pursuing recovery options as the disruption persisted.
