# ‘A huge pain in the ass’: Microsoft 365 starts to recover after a day of global email turmoil

Source: [GeekWire](https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-huge-pain-in-the-ass-microsoft-365-starts-to-recover-after-a-daylong-global-email-blackout/) · 2026-11-13 · Industry
Page: https://themorning.dev/story/a-huge-pain-in-the-ass-microsoft-365-starts-to-recover-after-a-day-of-global-ema-0f32c1f0e21a569a
Kind: outage · Impact: high

## In brief

- Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Exchange Online and Teams, went down starting Thursday, 12 November 2026, and the disruption lasted more than 12 hours.
- Some reports say the outage stretched to nearly 24 hours; Microsoft says it is gradually restoring service.
- The outage disrupted government offices, traders and businesses globally, and some workers in Japan reportedly switched to fax machines.

## Why it matters

Organizations that depend on Microsoft 365 for email and chat lost access for most of a working day, which shows the operational risk of relying on a single cloud vendor.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-12: Outage begins; Outlook stops opening on Thursday lunchtime
- 2026-11-13: Microsoft says it is making progress and services begin gradually recovering

## Coverage

- [Microsoft services are returning after an outage took down Outlook, Teams and more](https://www.engadget.com/2316029/microsoft-services-are-returning-after-an-outage-took-down-outlook-teams-and-more/) — Engadget - Technology News & Expert Reviews, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft outage gives customers a crash course in dependence on Redmond](https://www.theregister.com/saas/2026/11/13/microsoft-outage-gives-customers-a-crash-course-in-dependence-on-redmond/5309805) — www.theregister.com - Articles, 2026-11-13
- [‘A huge pain in the ass’: Microsoft 365 starts to recover after a day of global email turmoil](https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-huge-pain-in-the-ass-microsoft-365-starts-to-recover-after-a-daylong-global-email-blackout/) — GeekWire, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft Says Making Progress Fixing One of Its Longest Outages](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-13/microsoft-says-making-progress-fixing-one-of-its-longest-outages) — Bloomberg Technology, 2026-11-13
- [The health check that took down Outlook: inside the Microsoft 365 outage of November 12](https://dev.to/kashif_manzer/the-health-check-that-took-down-outlook-inside-the-microsoft-365-outage-of-november-12-1ld4) — DEV Community: backend, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft Struggles to Restore Email and Other Services in a Global Outage](https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-struggles-to-restore-email-and-other-services-in-a-global-outage/) — SecurityWeek, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft’s latest email outage turned into a full blown global cloud crisis](https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/13/microsoft-latest-email-outage-turned-into-a-full-blown-global-cloud-crisis/) — TechCrunch, 2026-11-13
- [Japanese workers return to fax machines during ongoing Microsoft 365 outage](https://www.tomshardware.com/software/japanese-workers-return-to-fax-machines-during-ongoing-microsoft-365-outage-were-going-full-analog-say-workers-forced-to-ditch-pdfs) — Latest from Tom's Hardware, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft’s massive Outlook outage continues](https://www.theverge.com/tech/1032862/microsoft-outlook-down-outage) — Tech | The Verge, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft Struggles to Restore Access to Software](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-11-13/microsoft-struggles-to-restore-access-to-software-video) — Bloomberg Technology, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft Outage Gums Up Markets, Forces Traders to Use Phones](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-13/microsoft-outage-gums-up-markets-forces-traders-to-use-phones) — Bloomberg Technology, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft's massive M365 outage stretches past 12 hours as its fixes keep failing](https://www.theregister.com/saas/2026/11/13/microsofts-massive-m365-outage-stretches-past-12-hours-as-its-fixes-keep-failing/5309609) — www.theregister.com - Articles, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft's massive M365 outage stretches past 15 hours as its fixes keep failing](https://www.theregister.com/saas/2026/11/13/microsofts-massive-m365-outage-stretches-past-15-hours-as-its-fixes-keep-failing/5309609) — www.theregister.com - Articles, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft's massive M365 outage stretches past 20 hours as its fixes keep failing](https://www.theregister.com/saas/2026/11/13/microsofts-massive-m365-outage-stretches-past-20-hours-as-its-fixes-keep-failing/5309609) — www.theregister.com - Articles, 2026-11-13
- [Global Microsoft Outage](https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/12/business/live-news/microsoft-global-outage-intl-hnk) — Hacker News: Front Page, 2026-11-13
- [Microsoft Outlook/365 still down after 12 hours](https://twitter.com/MSFT365Status/status/2121079061774491735) — Hacker News: Front Page, 2026-11-13

Tags: microsoft-365, outlook, outage, cloud, email

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Dev – https://themorning.dev