A major technical problem at Microsoft has affected access to emails, online meetings and other digital services used by individuals and businesses around the world.
People who rely on Microsoft Outlook for their daily communication have experienced difficulties accessing their emails following a widespread disruption affecting several of the company’s services.
The problem, which began on Thursday, November 12, 2026, also affected Microsoft Teams, Copilot and other applications under Microsoft 365, raising concerns among businesses and individuals who depend on these platforms for their daily activities.
Outlook is widely used for sending and receiving emails, managing calendars and organising meetings. During the disruption, some users were unable to open their inboxes, while others experienced difficulties sending or receiving messages.
According to Downdetector, a website that monitors online service disruptions through user reports, complaints about Outlook increased significantly, reaching nearly 130,000 reports at the peak of the outage. Problems were also reported with Microsoft 365 and Teams.
The disruption was not limited to email services. Microsoft Teams, which allows people to communicate and hold online meetings, and Copilot, the company’s artificial intelligence assistant, were among the affected platforms. Other services, including OneDrive and SharePoint, also experienced connectivity problems.
Microsoft explained that the problem was linked to a large number of its servers becoming unexpectedly unavailable. This placed additional pressure on the remaining servers, making it difficult for users to connect to different services.
Servers are powerful computers that store information and help websites and applications function. When some of them become unavailable, the remaining ones may struggle to handle the increased demand, potentially affecting thousands of users.
The disruption also affected some services that depend on Microsoft’s systems. OpenAI and Anthropic, two companies known for developing artificial intelligence tools, reported problems with their Microsoft 365 connections. OpenAI said it was investigating issues that affected some connections and the expected functioning of certain tools.
Microsoft said it was working to restore the affected servers, redirect traffic through other parts of its infrastructure and reduce the pressure on the systems. However, its recovery efforts experienced some difficulties, with some servers becoming unresponsive again when users attempted to reconnect.
As of Friday, November 13, the company was still working on alternative ways to restore its services, with some users continuing to report difficulties.
The incident highlights how much individuals, businesses and organisations depend on online services to communicate, store information and carry out everyday activities. When a major technology provider experiences a disruption, the effects can extend beyond its own applications to other companies and services that rely on its infrastructure.
Brenna AKARABO
RADIOTV10