A global Microsoft 365 outage that began on 12 November has disrupted access to email, files and calendars across multiple countries. On Friday morning, 13 November, Microsoft reported limited success with its recovery efforts, according to the BBC. Outlook, Teams and Copilot were affected, although the extent of the disruption varied between services and users.
Some people were unable to send or receive emails, open certain files or view parts of their calendars. However, the outage did not bring every Microsoft 365 tool to a complete halt. According to the BBC, some users could still use Teams messaging and attend meetings as normal.
Citing Downdetector, the BBC reported around 140,000 reports of Outlook problems from 74 countries on Thursday evening. Those reports indicate the reach of the disruption rather than the total number of people affected, which has not been confirmed.
Microsoft points to infrastructure problems
According to the BBC, Microsoft ruled out a cyberattack and attributed the disruption to increased pressure on its infrastructure after some servers unexpectedly became unavailable. That is the company’s explanation, rather than the finding of an independent technical investigation.
On Friday morning, Microsoft said its recovery measures had achieved only limited success, the BBC reported. The company was continuing to monitor infrastructure across different regions, meaning the morning update did not mark a full restoration of services.
Disruption also affects UK GP surgeries
The effects extended beyond workplace email. According to the BBC, several UK GP surgeries — local general practitioner practices — warned patients about possible difficulties getting in touch. Some asked patients to telephone with urgent enquiries rather than use email or online forms. These were notices from individual practices, not a UK-wide change to how patients should contact their surgery.
The BBC also reported problems flagged by OpenAI and Anthropic in connection with the outage. The picture on Friday morning remained uneven: some users were able to work normally, while others continued to struggle with basic Microsoft service functions.
