Microsoft restores 365 services after 20-hour global outage hits 70 countries

Microsoft has restored its Microsoft 365 services after a major outage lasting more than 20 hours disrupted businesses, government agencies and essential services across more than 70 countries and territories.

The disruption affected millions of users relying on Microsoft's workplace applications, including Outlook, Teams and its artificial intelligence assistant Copilot, exposing the extent to which businesses and public institutions depend on the company's digital infrastructure for everyday operations.

In an update posted on X on November 14, Microsoft confirmed that it had resolved the underlying technical issue and restored services for customers and regions still experiencing problems. "We have completed our efforts to address the underlying issue of the incident and restored service to the remaining impacted customers and regions," the company said. The outage began around midday on Thursday in the United States, with users reporting difficulties accessing Outlook mailboxes, sending emails and using workplace communication tools. Although Microsoft gradually restored services, intermittent problems continued across several regions as the company worked to stabilise its infrastructure.

What caused the Microsoft 365 outage?

Microsoft attributed the disruption to a technical problem linked to an earlier network capacity upgrade. The issue surfaced after a subsequent network change, affecting the availability of services across its infrastructure.

The company ruled out a cyberattack or malicious activity, saying there was no indication that the incident involved a security breach or artificial intelligence agents. Earlier on Saturday, Microsoft apologised to customers and business partners for the disruption, acknowledging the impact on organisations that depend on its services.

"We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners. We know the trust they place in our services and take that responsibility extremely seriously," the company said in an earlier update. Microsoft said recovery had to be carried out in stages because of the scale of the disruption and the demand placed on its infrastructure. Its technical teams monitored service stability at each stage before restoring traffic more widely.

The company said the gradual approach took longer but was necessary to ensure services returned reliably. It also reported improvements in mailbox access, email delivery and overall service availability as recovery progressed. Microsoft said its teams would continue reviewing the incident and identifying measures to prevent similar disruptions.

Governments, airlines and businesses among those affected

The outage extended well beyond individual users, disrupting operations across government, healthcare, aviation, banking and other business sectors.

In India, Japan, Singapore, Greece and Norway, government departments and public agencies reported problems with some operations, including official email communications. In India, users began reporting difficulties with Outlook, Teams and Copilot around 11 pm on Thursday, November 12. Complaints initially eased overnight before rising again after 6 am on Friday.

Microsoft's service health updates indicated that both business and enterprise customers and some consumer users were affected. Outlook users encountered problems accessing mailboxes through web and desktop applications, while some emails were delayed or failed to reach recipients.

Copilot users reported difficulties loading the service and receiving responses. Its workplace features also struggled to retrieve information from emails, calendars and files.

Teams experienced comparatively limited disruption. Microsoft said core functions, including joining meetings, group chats and channel messaging, largely remained operational. However, some calendar-related features, such as scheduling and viewing meetings, were affected.

The aviation sector also felt the impact in India. IndiGo said its email support services had been disrupted and warned that it might not receive customer emails. It advised passengers requiring urgent assistance to use its virtual assistant, 6E Skai, through its website or mobile application.

Akasa Air also reported delays in email support, asking passengers to contact its 24-hour customer care centre or use social media for immediate assistance. Air India, meanwhile, said its flight operations and communication channels remained unaffected. The airline temporarily rerouted emails to ensure that messages continued reaching its systems.

Microsoft had earlier confirmed that recovery work across parts of its Asia-Pacific infrastructure, including India, had improved service availability, although some users continued experiencing intermittent problems. Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, apologised for the disruption in a LinkedIn post, saying global teams were working urgently to resolve the issue.

Disruption reaches courts, police and healthcare services

The outage also disrupted public services in Britain, where a court in Manchester was forced to pause a trial after technical problems caused delays. Judge Maurice Greene sent jurors home, according to the Associated Press.

Police services were affected too, with British police reporting that they could not receive online crime reports. Members of the public were advised to call authorities for urgent assistance. The British government said it was working with Microsoft to assess the impact on public services, adding that contingency arrangements were in place to limit disruption.

Healthcare services also faced difficulties. Britain's National Health Service was among the affected organisations, while the National Pharmacy Association warned of possible delays in medication deliveries, the Associated Press reported. The disruption raised concerns about delays in communication between doctors and pharmacies, particularly where prescriptions were sent electronically through email.

In the United States, some law enforcement operations also reported problems. The sheriff's office in Arapahoe County, Colorado, said online bond payments had been affected. Businesses in Hong Kong faced similar challenges. Businessperson Danny Lau, who runs an aluminium company, told the Associated Press that his business was unable to receive updates from customers in the United States through Outlook. Some banks in the city also reported disruptions.

Wider impact on connected technology platforms

The outage highlighted how deeply Microsoft 365 is embedded in the wider digital ecosystem, with problems extending to other technology platforms that rely on its services.

OpenAI and Anthropic also reported difficulties connecting with Microsoft 365 tools, underlining how an interruption at a major technology provider can affect applications and services beyond its own product portfolio. The scale of the disruption renewed concerns about the vulnerability of organisations that depend heavily on a handful of cloud and software providers. Jeremy Singer, a professor at the University of Glasgow's School of Computing Science, described the disruption's effect on office workers to the Associated Press.

"With no emails coming or going, many office workers feel like they are having a virtual snow day," he said. Although Microsoft has now declared services fully restored, the incident has underscored the far-reaching consequences of technical failures in digital infrastructure that governments, businesses and millions of people rely on every day.