Microsoft 365 Users Face Multi-Region Connectivity Problems

On November 12, users in multiple regions experienced trouble connecting to Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook. Microsoft said the issue involved elevated load across infrastructure in several regions and was contributing to connectivity errors.

Services listed as potentially affected included Exchange Online, Microsoft’s Teams collaboration platform, its SharePoint cloud service, Copilot for Microsoft 365 and its Defender XDR security product. Users on individual accounts also appeared to be affected, alongside Business and Enterprise customers.

Microsoft said engineers had identified strain in part of its infrastructure and were working to restore capacity by restarting and repairing affected systems. The company also began shifting connection traffic across its wider global infrastructure to balance demand, while examining an unexpected increase in a particular type of service traffic.

More than 130,000 problems had been logged on Downdetector by November 12. The disruption could affect access to email and other services; Microsoft 365 has roughly 321 million users worldwide. Microsoft had not specified how long the problems might continue.