On Thursday, Microsoft’s Outlook email service experienced a substantial outage, impacting numerous users throughout North America and potentially beyond. Reports regarding issues with accessing Exchange Online mailboxes began to surface around 12:39 p.m. ET.

As the situation developed, users began to log connectivity problems through various channels, prompting rapid responses from Microsoft. By approximately 1:09 p.m. ET, over 129,000 error reports had been recorded by Downdetector, a platform that monitors online service disruptions.

Microsoft’s Response to the Outage

In a post on the Microsoft 365 Status account on X, the company announced, “We’re investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas.” While no specific timeline for resolution was provided, the company confirmed that both individual users and enterprise accounts were affected, with issues extending to other Microsoft services such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, and the Copilot 365 AI service.

At 1:35 p.m. ET, Microsoft provided an update stating, “We’ve determined a portion of infrastructure is experiencing elevated load across multiple regions, which is likely contributing to the connectivity errors.” The company indicated that it was redistributing connection traffic across its global infrastructure to alleviate the overload.

Current Status and Ongoing Efforts

By 2:12 p.m. ET, Microsoft reported that it was taking several measures to minimize user impact, stating, “We’re aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact.” Actions included pausing ongoing deployments, shifting additional traffic off the compromised infrastructure, and rebooting affected servers as a part of the restoration process. The company clarified that the elevated load was not due to a spike in user traffic, but rather the unexpected unavailability of several servers, which strained the remaining infrastructure.

As Microsoft continues to address the issues, updates are expected to follow as more information becomes available.

Context and Future Implications

This outage comes at a time when Microsoft reported a growth in its Microsoft 365 commercial client base, which increased by 6% year-over-year, reaching over 450 million according to the company’s earnings call for the December 2025 quarter. Such service disruptions raise important questions about infrastructure resilience as user demand for cloud-based services continues to grow.