Outlook suffers an outage: what to check in your business
Microsoft is investigating problems accessing Outlook and other Microsoft 365 services. The incident highlights the importance of having alternative communication channels available.
News summary
On 12 November, Microsoft reported problems connecting to Exchange Online mailboxes through several methods, including Outlook on the web. TechCrunch's coverage reports that the scope, initially identified as affecting the Americas, expanded to potentially include users in any region. Difficulties were also reported with other Microsoft 365 services, including Teams and SharePoint.
In the updates consulted, Microsoft linked the high load to servers being unexpectedly unavailable and was continuing to investigate the cause. This article reflects the information available on 12 November at 20:28 UTC: it does not confirm a full recovery or attribute the incident to a cyberattack. The status may change after that editorial cut-off.
For a Spanish business, the first step is to distinguish a provider incident from a problem with its own network or configuration. If several users and access methods fail at the same time, it is advisable to check the service status and admin centre before making changes to corporate email. User reports do not equate to a count of affected businesses.
Source: TechCrunch — 12 November 2026
What to check in your business
Check advisory EX1550543 in the Microsoft 365 admin centre and record the affected users and access methods.
- Notify people through a previously authorised alternative channel; do not move confidential documents to personal accounts to get around the outage.
- Do not delete profiles, change DNS or recreate mailboxes without a diagnosis. Afterwards, check that messages can be sent and received, not just that Outlook opens.
Concepts mentioned in this article: Microsoft 365
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