Microsoft says services fully restored after a global outage hit Outlook and Teams
Summary
A widespread outage hit Microsoft platforms including Outlook on Thursday, The Independent reported on Thursday 12 November. An alert on Microsoft's site said it was 'aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact' and blamed a server issue, The Guardian reported, the outage causing significant disruptions to Outlook, Teams, Copilot and broader Microsoft 365 services, according to The Independent, and The Guardian reported on Friday 13 November that Australia was sent back to a time before email. Microsoft later said it was seeing 'signs of stabilisation' in its scramble to fix the outage, which hit councils and public services, the Scottish Government activating resilience operations, the Evening Standard and The Independent reported, The Guardian reporting 'serious' and widespread disruption in the NHS, with people told of possible delays in receiving prescriptions. Microsoft then said it had made 'additional progress toward service recovery' as it gradually restored services, and later that it was 'deeply sorry' for the disruption, saying the outage was caused by a 'technical issue not related to cyber or AI agents', the Evening Standard and The Independent reported. On Saturday 14 November Microsoft said services were fully restored to all customers and regions hit by one of the worst IT failures in years, The Guardian, The Independent and the Evening Standard reported.
Latest: Microsoft said services were fully restored to all customers and regions hit by one of the worst IT failures in years, The Guardian reported, The Independent writing that Microsoft stated the disruption was due to a 'technical issue not related to cyber or AI agents' and the Liverpool Echo that the company said it had 'completed efforts' on Saturday morning after the outage hit police and the NHS, while The Guardian headlined that the global disruption could have a billion-dollar impact on Australia.
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How it unfolded
Saturday 14 November
Microsoft said services were fully restored to all customers and regions hit by one of the worst IT failures in years, The Guardian reported, The Independent writing that Microsoft stated the disruption was due to a 'technical issue not related to cyber or AI agents' and the Liverpool Echo that the company said it had 'completed efforts' on Saturday morning after the outage hit police and the NHS, while The Guardian headlined that the global disruption could have a billion-dollar impact on Australia.
- 06:11The Independent Microsoft confirms services fully restored after major global outage
- 05:57Chronicle Live Microsoft issues update after global outage affected police, councils and NHS
- 05:52The Guardian Microsoft says services fully restored after global outage
- 05:39Liverpool Echo Microsoft issues update after major global outage hit police and NHS
- 05:20The Independent Microsoft says service fully restored after major global outage
- 05:13Evening Standard Microsoft says service fully restored after major global outage
- 04:12The Independent Microsoft says services fully restored after hourslong global outage
Friday 13 November
Microsoft said it was 'deeply sorry' for the disruption caused by the major global outage and that the outage was caused by a 'technical issue not related to cyber or AI agents', after gradually restoring services, the Evening Standard and The Independent reported, as frontline services like 999 and NHS 24 said they were still operational, according to The Scotsman, while NHS patients were warned of prescription delays, according to the Liverpool Echo, and Euronews reported that government, schools and health services in Portugal were hit.
- 19:52The Guardian Microsoft ‘deeply sorry’ for global disruption that could have billion-dollar impact on Australia
- 16:37Manchester Evening News Andy Burnham government issues statement on Microsoft outage as millions left without access
- 15:49BBC News Microsoft 'deeply sorry' for global outage after almost 24 hours of disruption
- 13:11The Independent Microsoft ‘deeply sorry’ for disruption caused by major global outage
- 13:11Evening Standard Microsoft ‘deeply sorry’ for disruption caused by major global outage
- 12:28The Independent Microsoft apologizes for mass outage and rules out cyber attack as cause
- 12:17The Guardian Microsoft outage shakes up companies, schools and local governments across US
- 10:03The Scotsman Microsoft apologises as Scottish government activates resilience operations amid outage
- 10:03The Scotsman Scottish government activates resilience operations after Microsoft outage
- 10:03The Scotsman Microsoft outage: 999, NHS 24 and other frontline services not impacted
- 09:17Chronicle Live DWP issues update on whether payments will be affected after Microsoft outage
- 08:33Euronews Microsoft 365 global outage disrupts Portuguese government, health services and schools
- 08:33Euronews Portugal government, schools and health services hit by global Microsoft outage
- 08:01Liverpool Echo NHS patients warned of prescription delays amid global Microsoft outage
- 07:53Evening Standard Is Microsoft Outlook back? Tech giant says services ‘being restored’ after global outage
- 07:21The Independent Scottish Government activates resilience operations after Microsoft outage
- 07:21Evening Standard Scottish Government activates resilience operations after Microsoft outage
- 07:03The Independent Microsoft gradually restores services after major global outage
- 07:03Evening Standard Microsoft gradually restores services after major global outage
- 06:54Wales Online Microsoft outage sparks NHS 'use 111' message and Friday appointments alert
- 06:41The Independent Rail firms warn of possible issues with emailed tickets after Microsoft outage
- 06:41Evening Standard Rail firms warn of possible issues with emailed tickets after Microsoft outage
- 06:24Evening Standard When will Outlook and Microsoft 365 be back up? Tech giant says it’s seeing ‘signs of stabilisation’
- 06:04The Independent Microsoft outage sparks chaos across NHS, police and schools
- 05:39Evening Standard Councils and public services hit by global Microsoft outage
- 05:39The Independent Councils and public services hit by global Microsoft outage
- 05:36Evening Standard Microsoft outage could cause issues for those moving home on ‘unlucky’ Friday 13
- 05:36The Independent Microsoft outage could cause issues for those moving home on ‘unlucky’ Friday 13
- 04:59The Guardian Microsoft outage hits hospitals, GPs, schools and police across UK
- 04:55The Independent Microsoft seeing ‘signs of stabilisation’ in scramble to fix global outage
- 04:55Evening Standard Microsoft seeing ‘signs of stabilisation’ in scramble to fix global outage
- 03:59Liverpool Echo Microsoft outage hits Merseyside Police as force issues warning
- 03:20Bristol Post Microsoft outage hits hundreds of thousands worldwide as patch issued
- 03:01Evening Standard Microsoft races to resolve global outage as fix not working ‘as expected’
- 02:47The Independent Microsoft outage hits companies and governments worldwide as it struggles to restore services
- 02:20The Scotsman Microsoft works to restore services as outages continue worldwide
- 02:05The Independent Microsoft outages continue as tech giant works to restore services
- 02:05Evening Standard Microsoft outages continue as tech giant works to restore services
- 01:03Financial Times SubscribersMicrosoft races to restore services after global outage
Thursday 12 November
A widespread outage hit Microsoft platforms including Outlook on Thursday, The Independent reported, Microsoft confirming the outage as thousands of Outlook users reported problems, according to the Manchester Evening News, and an alert on Microsoft's site saying it was 'aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact' and blaming a server issue, The Guardian reported, while users worldwide reported issues after the tech giant said its infrastructure had been hit by 'elevated load', according to BBC News.
- 23:40The Guardian ‘Looks like we’ll have to talk to people’: Australia sent back to time before email with major Microsoft outage
- 23:33Sky News Microsoft suffers global outage - as fix not going 'as expected'
- 15:46The Guardian Microsoft ‘restarting’ as outage impacts global users, with Outlook and Teams affected
- 15:25BBC News Microsoft users report outages amid tech giant 'connectivity issues'
- 14:56The Independent Microsoft issues update as mass outage sparks cyber attack fears
- 14:39The Independent Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft and OpenAI
- 14:10The Independent Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft apps
- 13:46Manchester Evening News Microsoft confirms outage as thousands of Outlook users report problems