Microsoft works to restore services after a global outage disrupts Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other applications across 74 countries and territories
DUBAI: A major Microsoft 365 outage disrupted digital services worldwide on Thursday, November 12. The disruption continued into Friday morning, affecting users in the UAE and several other countries.
Thousands of users struggled to access Outlook, Microsoft Teams and Copilot. Many could not send emails, open their inboxes or connect to workplace applications. The outage also affected businesses and organisations that depend on Microsoft’s cloud services.
Microsoft outage affects users in UAE
The outage began on Thursday and quickly spread across several regions. Downdetector recorded nearly 130,000 reports of Outlook problems in the United States shortly after 1pm Eastern Time. Users reported problems across 74 countries and territories. In the UAE, Outlook, Teams and Microsoft 365 saw sharp increases in complaints on Friday morning. The disruption also affected other Microsoft services, including Exchange Online and SharePoint Online.
What caused the Microsoft outage?
Microsoft linked the disruption to connectivity problems and increased pressure on its infrastructure. The company said several servers had unexpectedly become unavailable. This placed additional pressure on the remaining servers and affected service connectivity.
Engineers began restarting servers and redirecting traffic to restore access. However, Microsoft said its initial recovery measures had not delivered the expected results. The company later reported limited recovery as some affected servers returned to service.Microsoft has not identified a cyberattack as the cause of the disruption.
Impact to Expect
The outage could continue to affect businesses, schools and organisations that rely on Microsoft 365 for daily operations. Microsoft is working to restore services, but some users may experience intermittent access as systems recover. UAE users can check Microsoft’s official service health page for updates. Businesses may also need alternative communication channels until services return to normal.
