Lorraine Williamson
Microsoft is battling a widespread technology outage that has disrupted Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365 and several other services across more than 70 countries. The problems began on Thursday, 12 November, and continued into Friday morning, leaving businesses and individual users struggling to access emails, documents and essential workplace tools.
The disruption was first widely reported in Spain on Thursday evening, with complaints rising from around 7.00 pm mainland Spanish time. By Friday morning, users were still experiencing intermittent access problems despite Microsoft’s attempts to restore its systems overnight.
According to Microsoft’s official service-health dashboard, the company is experiencing service degradation affecting both business and consumer products. Engineers have been working to restore capacity, but the company has not announced that all affected services are operating normally.
Which Microsoft services are affected?
Outlook and Exchange Online have been among the most seriously disrupted services, with users reporting difficulties opening their inboxes, sending and receiving emails and connecting through different devices. The problems have also affected organisations relying on Microsoft 365 for their everyday communications.
Microsoft Teams users have experienced errors affecting certain collaboration and meeting functions, while other reported problems involve SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Copilot and connected workplace applications. The disruption does not mean every feature of every Microsoft product is unavailable, and the impact varies between users and organisations.
The scale of the incident has become clearer through reports to Downdetector, which monitors problems submitted by users. Complaints have been recorded across more than 70 countries and territories, although these reports cannot be used to establish the total number of people affected.
Why has Microsoft gone down?
Microsoft’s investigation has identified problems involving parts of its server infrastructure, with some systems becoming overloaded as others unexpectedly stopped handling requests. This created additional pressure on the remaining servers and affected services connected to Exchange Online, Microsoft’s cloud-based email platform.
The company has been making changes to the way traffic is routed through its systems and restoring server capacity in stages. Earlier recovery attempts did not produce lasting improvements, although Microsoft reported more encouraging results on Friday morning.
There is currently no evidence that the outage was caused by a cyberattack. Microsoft has said it is not aware of malicious activity behind the disruption, but the full technical cause has not yet been established.
Businesses and public services face disruption
The outage has affected organisations that depend on Microsoft’s systems for email, document sharing, meetings and other daily operations. Problems have been reported by businesses and public bodies in several countries, demonstrating how disruption to a major technology provider can have consequences far beyond individual users.
For businesses in Spain, particularly smaller companies relying heavily on Outlook and Microsoft 365, the problems could delay customer enquiries, appointments, orders and invoices. The extent of disruption varies, and there is no indication that every Spanish business or public service using Microsoft has been affected.
The incident also raises wider questions about how dependent organisations have become on a relatively small number of technology providers. When several services rely on shared infrastructure, a single technical failure can interfere with multiple parts of a business at once.
What to do if Outlook or Teams is not working
Users experiencing problems should first check whether Microsoft has confirmed a service interruption before repeatedly changing account settings or reinstalling applications. The official Microsoft service-health page provides information about known incidents and recovery progress.
If Outlook is unavailable, businesses may need to use an alternative communication method for urgent enquiries. Telephone calls, messaging applications or another independently hosted email account may help maintain contact with customers while the disruption continues.
Users should avoid repeatedly sending the same email if they are unsure whether it has been delivered, as messages may eventually arrive more than once. It is also advisable to avoid opening unexpected emails or links claiming to offer an immediate Microsoft outage fix, particularly where they request passwords or account verification.
For organisations handling time-sensitive appointments, payments or customer support, checking alternative contact channels may be particularly important. Businesses should also make sure staff know how to communicate if their usual Microsoft tools are unavailable.
Microsoft reports improvements but recovery remains incomplete
Microsoft reported signs of improved server stability on Friday morning after introducing further infrastructure changes. The company is extending those measures across affected regions while monitoring whether services can handle normal levels of demand.
However, recovery has been uneven, and some users may continue to encounter errors even as others regain access. Microsoft has not provided a confirmed time for full restoration, and its investigation into the underlying cause remains ongoing.
For residents and businesses in Spain, the immediate advice is to monitor official service updates, use alternative communication channels where necessary, and avoid unnecessary changes to working systems. The disruption is a reminder of the importance of having a backup plan when essential digital services become unavailable.