Microsoft Outlook outage drags on hours after Thursday afternoon disruption

Microsoft's email service has been unavailable to many users for hours, according to The Verge. Problems began shortly before 1PM ET on Thursday, with people around the world reporting they could not reach Outlook through the web or through apps.

Microsoft confirmed the trouble soon afterward from its Microsoft 365 Status account. The company said a section of its infrastructure was under unusually heavy load in several regions, which it described as a likely cause of the connection failures.

Some users also reported trouble with Teams, though those complaints were fewer. Microsoft's own updates warned that customers might hit problems across its range of 365 business services. Communications director Ben Hope said the company was aware of the reports and looking into them, with Exchange Online the main service affected, and thanked customers for their patience while work continued.

Over the following hours, Microsoft issued a series of revised notices about the fault and its repair efforts. Those updates described difficulties restarting servers and keeping track of their condition.

By roughly 6PM ET, the company said it had brought part of the affected server pool back online and that those machines were holding steady. It also redirected traffic and connections through other routes where it could, and reported some limited improvement in certain regions.

Microsoft said it had simplified the steps needed to bring the rest of the servers back and was putting traffic controls in place at one location to ease the burden on the strained systems. It said it would extend those controls elsewhere if they helped. The company noted that service may come back gradually as users' clients reconnect.

No timeframe for a complete return to normal has been given. Microsoft said it would keep watching the situation as the outage continues.