# Microsoft restores Teams and Outlook after 18-hour global outage

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/microsoft-scrambles-to-fix-global-outage-affecting-teams-and-outlook/
- Published: 2026-11-13T18:09:47+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-13T18:21:08+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/nov/13/microsoft-outage-outlook-teams-word-excel-reports
- Topics: Health, Medicine, Software, Technology, UK, World

## Key points

- Microsoft says it has addressed the issue behind the global outage.
- Recovery is gradual after roughly 18 hours of disruption.
- Nearly 130,000 reports came from 74 countries.

## Summary

Microsoft says it has addressed the technical issue behind a global outage affecting Teams, Outlook and other Microsoft services, and is gradually restoring them. The disruption matters because people, businesses and public services worldwide rely on these tools for daily operations.

The outage began on Thursday evening and lasted about 18 hours, with services starting to recover shortly before midday GMT on Friday. Down Detector recorded nearly 130,000 reports across 74 countries; affected services included Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive and Copilot. Microsoft said the incident was not caused by a cyber-attack or AI agents and suggested server settings may have been involved. In the UK, healthcare, police, schools and rail services reported disruption.

## Coverage

- [The Guardian: Microsoft restores Teams and Outlook after 18-hour global outage](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/nov/13/microsoft-outage-outlook-teams-word-excel-reports)
- [New York Times: Microsoft’s Global Outage and Fixes: What We Know](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/13/technology/microsoft-outage-what-to-know.html)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.