Outlook down in 74 countries, Microsoft: "Partial recovery"

Microsoft: "The measures adopted do not give the desired results"

In an update published on X, Microsoft explained that it has been monitoring the effects of changes made to its infrastructure to improve the functioning of services. "We have found that they are not producing the desired effects," the group said, adding that it is looking for alternative ways to increase the systems' capacity.

The company attributes the problems to a high load on part of its IT infrastructure in several regions of the world, which reportedly contributed to the connectivity errors. Microsoft said it was evaluating all possible solutions to reduce the impact of the outage, but did not provide a definitive timeline for full recovery.

Microsoft also stated that it was not aware of any "malicious activity" causing the interruption of services. "We will continue to manage the situation with urgency and priority until it is fully resolved," he assured.

Outlook down in 74 countries, problems also for Teams and Copilot

According to Downdetector, the platform that collects user reports of online service malfunctions, the outage spread globally within about an hour, affecting Microsoft products in 74 countries and territories.

A map released by the platform shows reports in the Americas and in some areas of Europe, Asia and Africa. In addition to Outlook, thousands of users have reported difficulties using Teams and Copilot. The disruptions therefore affected various communication and work tools of the Microsoft 365 suite, used daily by companies, organizations and public institutions.

Microsoft initially said it was investigating issues reported in the Americas. It later confirmed that connection difficulties could affect users of Microsoft 365 services in any region of the world.

The New Zealand Foreign Ministry is also involved

Among the institutions affected was New Zealand's Foreign Office, which said its ability to receive emails was affected.

The problem, according to the ministry, also affected all New Zealand embassies, consulates and representative offices around the world. An example of the repercussions that an interruption of Microsoft services can have on institutional communications, as well as on the activities of companies and individual users.

Recovery attempts and partial recovery

During the interruption, Microsoft published several updates on its official channels, illustrating the interventions carried out to bring services back to normal. Among the measures adopted is the redistribution of user traffic to servers not affected by the problems. Microsoft also said it had resolved the Teams issues in North America, although some users continued to report connection difficulties.

Shortly after 11pm Italian time on Thursday 12 November, the company announced that it had experienced a "partial restoration" of services. Microsoft explained that as infrastructure capacity gradually recovered, users would be able to observe a gradual improvement in the situation as devices began to connect again.

According to Downdetector, around 5.50 am Italian time on 13 November there was a sharp decline in reports, particularly in Washington and Hong Kong. The data indicates an improvement in the situation, but does not equate to confirmation of the complete restoration of services.

When will Outlook work again?

A date or time for the final resolution of the problems has not yet been announced. Microsoft has acknowledged that some of its interventions have not been as effective as expected and is seeking additional solutions to address traffic management imbalances.

The situation therefore remains evolving. Users can follow updates on the official Microsoft 365 Status X profile, through which the company is communicating outage developments and recovery operations.