Microsoft services return after global outage that hit Outlook and Teams

Microsoft, the US technology company, suffered a widespread failure on Thursday afternoon that knocked out its Microsoft 365 office software suite. The email service Outlook, the collaboration platform Teams and the AI assistant Copilot 365 all became unavailable. On Friday the company said services were gradually returning, a development that matters because organizations across the world were affected.

How recovery unfolded

The company worked through the night. Around 10PM US Eastern Time on Thursday, Microsoft admitted that some attempts to improve service had not worked as hoped. By 2:45AM on Friday it reported positive results after traffic optimization measures.

Around 8:30AM Microsoft pointed to recovery progress in the affected regions: broader improvements in North America, sustained improvements across much of Europe and encouraging signs in Asia Pacific. Forty-five minutes later it warned that some users might still see delayed email delivery in Outlook or spotty connectivity. At 10:39AM it reported further improvement.

Impact

The disruption hit health care providers, schools and government bodies. Calls to emergency services, governments, the US House of Representatives and court systems were also affected. The UK's National Pharmacy Association said the email problems could cause delays to some prescriptions. In Japan, where most businesses and institutions are said to rely on Microsoft services, some companies temporarily went back to fax machines. Some workers in Australia and the UK used the situation as a reason to finish early on Friday.

Microsoft said it had found no evidence of malicious activity that could have caused the outage. Once the situation is fully resolved, the company will publish a post-incident report detailing the root cause.