Widespread outage hits Microsoft email, other apps

A widespread outage hit Microsoft platforms, including Outlook, on Thursday, with many users encountering trouble using their email accounts and other errors across the tech giant’s suite of apps.

Nearly 1,30,000 users on outage tracker Downdetector reported problems accessing Outlook just after 1 pm. New reports have since fallen from that peak, but many said they couldn’t send and receive emails or had trouble loading their inboxes altogether.

Thousands also reported issues with Microsoft’s workplace messaging app Teams, as well as its AI assistant Copilot and wider Microsoft 365 services.