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Outlook and Teams still down? What Microsoft says about the outage

Microsoft's Outlook, Teams and Copilot outage dragged into Friday, 13 November. At 08:12 SAST Microsoft was still recovering servers, with no time for a full fix. What's down, the timeline in SA time and what to do.

By Reported Team

Microsoft Outlook app logo
Image: Microsoft Outlook logo via Wikimedia Commons (uploaded by Ajatodekh), CC0

Microsoft's Outlook, Teams and Copilot outage was still not fully fixed on Friday morning. At 08:12 SAST Microsoft said it was "continuing to work on recovering our frontend servers" and adding capacity to steady the service (Microsoft 365 Status on X).

The problems began on Thursday and spread to 74 countries and territories within about an hour, including parts of Africa, according to outage tracker Downdetector (EWN). Microsoft says the cause is a server and capacity problem, not a cyberattack (TimesLIVE).

What is down?

Outlook email is the main problem, but Teams and Copilot were also hit (EWN). Microsoft confirmed the issue affected "Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region", so work and school accounts in South Africa can be affected too (EWN).

If your inbox won't load, messages are stuck in your outbox or Teams keeps disconnecting, this outage is the likely reason.

When did it start and how has it gone?

Time (SAST)What happened
Thu, about 20:00Around 130,000 users in the US reported Outlook problems shortly after 1pm US Eastern time (EWN)
Fri, 00:09Microsoft said a core process on affected servers was being overwhelmed, causing capacity loss, and that its fixes so far had not brought the expected relief (Microsoft)
Fri, 02:06Servers returned to service could become unresponsive again once traffic hit them (Microsoft)
Fri, 05:13Microsoft said changes to improve service were "not taking as expected" and it was looking at other options (Microsoft)
Fri, 06:36Partial recovery in regions where traffic changes had been applied (Microsoft)
Fri, 08:12Still recovering frontend servers (Microsoft)

Times converted from Microsoft's X posts and EWN's report, which used US Eastern time and GMT.

When will Outlook work again?

Microsoft has not given a time for a full fix. It has warned that as capacity comes back, "users may experience a gradual recovery as their clients reconnect" (EWN). That means some people will get their mail back before others, even in the same office.

What can you do in the meantime?

  • Check the Microsoft 365 Status account on X for updates. IT admins can follow incident MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center, which Microsoft says has the fuller update (Microsoft).
  • There's no need to reset your password or reinstall Outlook. Microsoft says the fault is with servers on its side that became unavailable (Microsoft).
  • For urgent work, phone people or use another channel your company allows until Outlook and Teams settle.
  • Once mail starts flowing again, check your outbox for messages that didn't go out.

Be wary of emails or SMSes that claim to "fix" your Outlook account during the outage. Microsoft is sharing its updates through its own status channels.

FAQ

Is Outlook down today?

Microsoft was still recovering servers at 08:12 SAST on Friday, 13 November 2026, after an outage that started on Thursday. Some users may get service back before others.

Was the Microsoft outage a cyberattack?

No. Microsoft attributed it to server and capacity problems on its infrastructure, not a cyberattack.

Does the outage affect South Africa?

Microsoft said the problem affected Microsoft 365 connectivity for users in any region, and Downdetector recorded problems in 74 countries and territories, including parts of Africa.

Should I reset my password or reinstall Outlook?

No. The fault is on Microsoft's side. Wait for Microsoft's status updates and check your outbox once service returns.

Sources