Microsoft is working to restore Outlook and Microsoft 365 services after a global outage lasting over seven hours, with initial recovery measures showing positive results across affected servers.
Microsoft is working to restore several Microsoft 365 services following a global technical outage that has disrupted operations for more than seven hours. The disruption has affected Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other business applications, leaving users unable to access certain features.
In its latest update, the company reported encouraging results from corrective measures already implemented on affected servers. Microsoft is monitoring their stability before gradually restoring additional network traffic.
The company has also announced plans to expand its recovery efforts to improve service availability and reduce pressure on its infrastructure.
As part of its recovery strategy, Microsoft has temporarily restricted network traffic in specific locations to reduce the workload on affected servers.
The company is also increasing the capacity of virtual machines to handle requests more efficiently.
However, Microsoft acknowledged that some servers remain in an unstable condition and that recent configuration changes have not synchronised properly across all machines.
To address this, engineers are identifying affected machines and forcing synchronisation of the latest network changes.
Microsoft plans to restore additional traffic gradually after confirming that the servers can operate reliably under controlled conditions.
Microsoft's investigation identified an issue with the process responsible for establishing secure connections on affected servers.
According to the company, this process became overwhelmed, preventing the servers from handling incoming requests properly.
As a result, several services connected to Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online experienced disruptions.
To resolve the issue, Microsoft is preparing a configuration adjustment that will be applied across the affected infrastructure. The company is first testing the change on a smaller group of servers before expanding its implementation.
Server restarts are also part of the recovery process.
Alongside server-level fixes, Microsoft has started reversing a recent network configuration update that occurred around the time the outage began.
The company is monitoring the impact of this rollback to determine whether it helps restore normal operations.
By combining configuration adjustments, infrastructure restarts and capacity improvements, Microsoft aims to bring the affected services back online without creating additional instability.
Outlook has been among the major services affected by the outage.
Users may experience difficulties accessing their mailboxes through:
Outlook on the web.
Outlook desktop applications.
Exchange ActiveSync connections.
REST-based email connections.
Email delivery may also be delayed, affecting communication between individuals and organisations.
Some pages within the Microsoft 365 admin centre may fail to load. Users may also encounter problems accessing recently opened files through Microsoft 365 applications.
The disruption has extended beyond email services, affecting several applications that depend on Exchange Online and related Microsoft infrastructure.
Microsoft Copilot Chat users may be unable to open the service or receive responses through its web and desktop applications.
The AI assistant may also face difficulties retrieving workplace information, including emails, calendars and documents.
Other affected services and features include:
Microsoft Planner
Microsoft To Do
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Graph
Power BI
Universal Print
Selected Windows 365 functions
These disruptions could affect workplace productivity, particularly for businesses that depend on Microsoft's cloud-based tools for everyday operations.
Although Microsoft Teams has also experienced problems, the company clarified that not all its features are unavailable. Functions connected to Exchange Online, including calendar access and meeting scheduling, may not work properly.
However, core messaging and online meeting capabilities remain largely operational. Similarly, users can continue accessing files stored directly in SharePoint Online, as these functions are not affected in the same way.
Microsoft said services and features that do not depend on Exchange Online continue to function.
Microsoft is continuing to evaluate server performance and the effectiveness of its corrective actions.
The company intends to expand its recovery measures as affected infrastructure becomes more stable. Additional network traffic will be restored in stages to minimise the possibility of another disruption.
While the initial results have been positive, Microsoft has not indicated that all affected services have returned to normal.
Conclusion
The prolonged Microsoft outage has disrupted essential workplace tools, including Outlook, Teams, Copilot and several Microsoft 365 applications. Although the company has reported positive results from its recovery measures, server instability and network configuration issues remain challenges. Microsoft's ongoing infrastructure improvements and gradual restoration process will be crucial to bringing services back to normal.