Microsoft 365 hit by multi-region connectivity issues amid elevated infrastructure load

Published November 12, 2026 2:01pm EST Engineers have identified the root cause, Microsoft says 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 an infrastructure issue causing elevated system loads. The outage has potentially impacted thousands of users trying to access their emails and other services. "We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas," an alert from the Microsoft Admin Center states. MICROSOFT PRESIDENT SAYS AI FACES FEWER SAFETY RULES THAN MILK IN CALL FOR GLOBAL REGULATION A widespread Microsoft Outlook outage was reported by users Thursday. (Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)In an 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."We've begun redistributing connection traffic across our broader worldwide infrastructure to help balance the load," the company said. Data collected by Downdetector showed more than 130,000 problems have been reported, as of 2 p.m. Thursday.CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APPMicrosoft 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.This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.