A widespread Microsoft Outlook outage was reported by users Thursday. (Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Microsoft 365 users across multiple regions experienced connectivity errors Thursday as the tech giant worked to resolve a widespread outage caused by elevated system loads.
The “elevated load” wasn’t driven by an increase in traffic, according to an alert from the Microsoft Admin Center.
Instead, it was the result of a “number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable, straining the remaining infrastructure.”
“We’re working to safely return them to service,” Microsoft said, adding it was “aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact.”
By 6:30 p.m. ET, the company said it was opening all available pathways to restore service, “as our actions taken thus far have not provided the anticipated relief.”
“We found a core process on affected servers is becoming overwhelmed, causing capacity loss,” Microsoft wrote in a statement. “To validate a potential recovery, we’re isolating a portion of infrastructure, restarting affected components, and reintroducing traffic to confirm the services remain stable before applying the change more broadly.”
The impacted services include Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Copilot 365, Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Intune and many others.
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A widespread Microsoft Outlook outage was reported by users Thursday. (Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The outage has potentially impacted thousands of users trying to access their emails through Microsoft 365. The company said services including Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Copilot 365 and Microsoft Defender XDR may be affected.
“We’re investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas,” another alert said.
Portland Fire & Rescue in Oregon said that anyone sending an email to agency employees may experience delayed replies. Emergency crews were still being dispatched for calls, the agency said.
In an earlier update posted to its official channels, Microsoft said that engineers had pinpointed the source of the disruption, noting that a portion of its infrastructure was experiencing heightened traffic and strain.
An investigation indicated that failed health checks may have originated from an unidentified component responsible for processing server health, the company said. Steps were taken to prevent additional servers from being impacted.
Data collected by Downdetector, a website that tracks issues with websites and software, showed more than 130,000 problems have been reported, as of 2 p.m. Thursday.
Downdetector also reported user issues with Xbox and Amazon, but it was not immediately clear how widespread the problems were.
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Microsoft 365 has roughly 321 million users globally, according to Dynamics Connect. It was unclear Thursday how long the outage might last or how it could impact the workforce.
The White House did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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