Microsoft Outage Causes Problems for Teams, Outlook and Copilot Users Worldwide

Microsoft users across the UK and other parts of the world have reported problems accessing popular services, including Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Copilot, following connectivity issues affecting the technology company's infrastructure.

The problems were reported on Thursday, 12 November 2026, with users experiencing difficulties connecting to several Microsoft services.

Microsoft confirmed it was working to resolve the disruption, explaining that part of its infrastructure was experiencing an unusually high load, which was contributing to connectivity errors.

Although the initial reports came from users in the United States, Microsoft warned that the issue could affect customers in any region.

By approximately 6.30pm GMT on Thursday evening, monitoring website Downdetector had recorded a significant increase in reports from UK users experiencing problems with Microsoft products.

The affected services included Microsoft Teams, widely used by businesses, schools and organisations for online meetings and communication, Outlook for email services and Copilot, Microsoft's artificial intelligence assistant.

Microsoft identifies server problems

In an update, Microsoft explained that the disruption was not caused by an increase in normal internet traffic.

Instead, the company said a number of servers had unexpectedly become unavailable, placing additional pressure on the remaining infrastructure.

This increased load was believed to be contributing to the connectivity problems experienced by customers.

Microsoft said: "We determined the elevated load isn't driven by an increase in traffic, but by a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable; straining the remaining infrastructure."

In a further update issued at approximately 7.50pm GMT, the company said it was testing a configuration intended to address the problem.

Microsoft explained that the configuration issue was causing servers to fail automated health checks, resulting in them becoming unavailable.

The company also confirmed that all affected servers had been restarted as part of its response.

Businesses and individuals affected

The disruption could cause difficulties for people relying on Microsoft services for their daily activities, particularly businesses and organisations using Teams and Outlook for communication.

Users experiencing problems may find that emails, meetings and other online services are temporarily unavailable or fail to connect.

Microsoft has been working to restore connectivity and stabilise its infrastructure.

Customers experiencing difficulties are advised to check Microsoft's official service health updates for the latest information.