Outlook Not Working Today? Check Microsoft 365 Status and Fix Email Problems

Is Outlook Down Right Now? Check the Official Microsoft Status

The fastest way to check whether Outlook is down is to compare Microsoft’s own service information with what happens on your devices. Do not rely on one social post or a spike in outage reports alone.

1. Open the Microsoft public status page. Check the Microsoft 365 and consumer-product status areas. This is useful when you cannot sign in to your work or school account.
2. If you use a company or school account, ask an administrator to check Service health. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, open Health → Service health. Tenant-specific incidents and detailed service updates may be visible there.
3. Compare Outlook on the web with the installed app. Try Outlook on the web. If the web mailbox and desktop app fail together, a service-side problem becomes more likely. If web works but desktop does not, investigate the local client.
4. Use Downdetector only as a supporting signal. It aggregates reports submitted by users. A sudden spike is useful context, but it does not prove the cause or establish the exact number of affected accounts.

Microsoft says service health should be checked before spending time on local troubleshooting when a cloud service may be affected. Administrators can see active incidents and advisories in the admin center; the public status page is the alternative when tenant sign-in is unavailable. See Microsoft’s service-health instructions.

What Happened in the November 12–13, 2026 Microsoft Outlook Outage?

Microsoft’s first incident notice described users having trouble connecting to Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas. Later updates said the problem involved infrastructure experiencing elevated load across multiple regions. Microsoft reported that some servers had become unexpectedly unavailable, shifting more work onto the infrastructure that remained available.

Associated incident identifiers were EX1550543 for Exchange Online mailbox connectivity and MO1550821 for wider Microsoft 365 service connectivity. These identifiers are useful when a business administrator checks the tenant’s Service health page. The full incident details may require an administrator sign-in.

Associated reporting from the Associated Press said Downdetector saw nearly 130,000 Outlook problem reports shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern Time on November 12. Reuters separately reported a peak of around 138,000 Outlook reports. These are user-submitted outage reports, not a verified count of unique affected Microsoft accounts.

Sources: Associated Press incident coverage, Reuters reporting and Microsoft’s live status page.

Microsoft 365 Administrators: Could Your Organization Qualify for an SLA Credit?

The November 12–13 Exchange Online outage (EX1550543) may have affected your organization’s email availability. Eligible Microsoft 365 business, enterprise, education and government administrators can use our free Microsoft 365 SLA Credit Estimator for EX1550543 to estimate tenant-specific uptime, model a potential service-credit tier using affected-user minutes and eligible Exchange Online fees, and prepare a claim-review draft.

This is an independent estimate, not an approval or guaranteed refund. Eligibility depends on the SLA applicable to your subscription and evidence of qualifying downtime within your own tenant. Microsoft’s final decision determines whether a credit is available. This tool is not intended for personal Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions.

Which Microsoft 365 Services Were Affected?

The wider incident was not simply an Outlook desktop application crash. The Microsoft 365 incident information described problems in services and features that rely on Exchange Online or related email and calendar data. Not every feature in each product was necessarily unavailable.

For administrators, Microsoft incident details are more precise than a general outage headline. Check the specific workload and feature affected in the Service health entry before telling staff that an entire product is unavailable.

Is Outlook Down in the US, Canada, UK or Australia?

Microsoft initially described the Exchange Online mailbox issue in the Americas, then described elevated infrastructure load across multiple regions. That means people in different countries may experience different symptoms or recovery timing. The incident notices do not provide a guaranteed country-by-country list of every affected user, so it would be misleading to say that all Outlook users in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or Australia were affected equally.

For incident comparisons, keep time zones in mind. All times in this article are shown in US Eastern Time (ET); on November 13, that is Eastern Standard Time. Readers in the United Kingdom, Australia or elsewhere should convert them to their own local time. These timestamps are not separate country-specific outage confirmations.

How to Fix Outlook Not Working: Safe Checks to Try First

Use these steps after checking the service status. If Microsoft confirms an active Exchange Online incident that matches your symptoms, skip device-level changes until the service is restored.

1. Test Outlook on the web. Open Outlook on the web for a work or school account, or Outlook.com for a personal account. If the web mailbox works but your app does not, focus on the app or device rather than the cloud mailbox.
2. Check the network without making account changes. Open another trusted website. If possible, test from another known-good network. A VPN, firewall, proxy or company network rule can affect connectivity, but do not disable a managed security control without your organization’s approval.
3. Restart Outlook once and check for an update. Close the app fully, reopen it and install available updates when appropriate. Avoid repeated restarts or repeated send attempts while the service is unstable.
4. Check whether classic Outlook is offline. In classic Outlook for Windows, open Send/Receive and check whether Work Offline is selected. If it is, switch back online. This specific menu instruction does not apply to every new Outlook interface.
5. Check the Outbox before sending again. Open the Outbox and inspect any pending message. If a message is waiting there, do not repeatedly click Send; the original might be delivered later when connectivity returns. Check for oversized attachments as well.
6. Look in Junk, Other and mailbox rules. If new email is missing but Outlook opens, check Junk Email, Focused and Other, Deleted Items, archive folders, inbox rules and any organization quarantine notices.
7. Use Microsoft’s troubleshooter for the correct Outlook version. Classic Outlook, new Outlook, Outlook for Mac and mobile apps do not have identical troubleshooting steps. Use the matching official support guide rather than following a random registry edit or profile-reset video.

Outlook Not Sending Emails? Check the Outbox and Connection

If Outlook opens but messages do not leave the Outbox, the cause may be a service incident, offline mode, a network interruption, an oversized attachment or a local app issue.

• Check Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com service health first.
• In classic Outlook, confirm that Work Offline is not selected and that the status bar does not show Disconnected or Trying to connect.
• Open the Outbox and inspect the message before trying again. If it is already queued, repeated sends can create duplicate messages.
• Check attachment size. For large files, use OneDrive sharing where your account and organization permit it.
• If Outlook on the web can send but desktop Outlook cannot, follow local Outlook troubleshooting rather than changing your mailbox password.

Microsoft’s guide: I can’t send or receive messages in Outlook.

Outlook Not Receiving Emails? Find Out Whether Messages Are Delayed

During an Exchange Online incident, mailbox access and message delivery can be delayed. When Microsoft reports normal service again, investigate the mailbox before assuming messages have disappeared.

For personal Outlook.com accounts

• Check Junk Email, Deleted Items, Archive, Other and any custom folders.
• Review inbox rules and blocked senders if messages from one person are missing.
• Check available mailbox storage and any delivery-failure notice sent to the sender.
• Compare the browser inbox with the mobile or desktop app to isolate sync problems.

For Microsoft 365 work or school accounts

• Ask whether other people in the organization are affected. Multiple users with the same issue may point to a service or mail-flow problem.
• Ask the administrator to check Exchange Online service health and the message trace for the sender, recipient and time window.
• Check quarantine, mail-flow rules, accepted domains and any sender rejection or NDR details as appropriate.
• Do not create duplicate forwarding rules or change MX records in response to a Microsoft service incident.

Microsoft’s administrator guidance explains how to separate an Outlook app problem from a mail-flow problem and when to use message trace: Find and fix email delivery issues as a Microsoft 365 admin.

Outlook Works on the Web but Not on Desktop: What It Means

This comparison is one of the fastest ways to narrow down the cause.

Microsoft’s current troubleshooting entry point: Issues sending and receiving email. It notes that the available troubleshooters vary by Outlook version.

Microsoft 365 Admin: Check Exchange Online Service Health and Email Delivery

If you manage a Microsoft 365 tenant, avoid treating every employee report as a separate Outlook desktop ticket while a shared incident is active.

1. Open the Microsoft 365 admin center. Sign in at admin.microsoft.com with an account that has permission to view service health.
2. Open Health → Service health. Review Exchange Online and the wider Microsoft 365 incident entry. Capture the incident ID and the latest Microsoft update time for internal communications.
3. Compare affected users and workloads. Establish whether the issue affects one mailbox, multiple users, Outlook on the web, desktop clients, mobile clients or other services.
4. After service health improves, run message trace. Use the Exchange admin center to determine whether a message was received, delivered, rejected or deferred. Check the message time window, sender and recipient carefully.
5. Communicate a measured status. Tell staff whether the issue is service-side, local or still under investigation. Do not promise a restoration time that Microsoft has not published.

Official administrator resources: Check Microsoft 365 service health and Troubleshoot email delivery.

Outlook Still Not Working After Microsoft Says Service Is Restored?

A service restoration does not always mean every Outlook client reconnects at the exact same moment. If Microsoft reports that the incident is resolved but your account still has problems, use this order:

1. Refresh Outlook on the web and check whether new messages appear.
2. Close and reopen the affected Outlook app once. Check whether the status changes from Disconnected or Trying to connect.
3. Check the Outbox and Sent Items before resending messages that were queued during the incident.
4. Compare the same mailbox on another trusted device or browser.
5. For a work account, ask the administrator to review service health and message trace for any delayed or rejected mail.
6. Only after the service is healthy should you move to version-specific app repair, profile troubleshooting or account reconfiguration.

If you use Outlook 2021, note that the end of Office 2021 support is a separate lifecycle issue. It is not evidence that an individual Outlook error is caused by the November 2026 service incident. See our separate guide: Office 2021 End of Support: Will Word and Excel Stop Working?.

Official Microsoft Sources and Reporting Used

We prioritize Microsoft’s own status and support documentation for troubleshooting instructions. Reputable reporting is used only for incident context and user-report figures. The status snapshot is time-stamped because incident information can change quickly.

• Microsoft — Public Service Health Status. Current public status for Microsoft services.
• Microsoft 365 admin center — Service health. Tenant-specific service incidents for authorized business administrators.
• Microsoft 365 Status — Official status account. Microsoft service incident communications.
• Microsoft Learn — How to check Microsoft 365 service health. How administrators can review status and incidents.
• Microsoft Support — Issues sending and receiving email. Official guidance for Outlook send and receive problems.
• Microsoft Support — I can’t send or receive messages in Outlook. Offline mode, connectivity and message troubleshooting.
• Microsoft Support — Classic Outlook troubleshooters. Supported Get Help diagnostics for classic Outlook on Windows.
• Microsoft Learn — Find and fix email delivery issues as a Microsoft 365 admin. Outlook versus mail-flow diagnosis and message trace.
• Associated Press — Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft email and other apps. November 12 incident reporting.
• Reuters — Microsoft 365, Outlook down for thousands of US users. November 12 reporting and Downdetector context.

Last checked: November 14, 2026. Update this timestamp, incident wording, timeline and structured-data dateModified whenever the page is materially refreshed.