What is Microsoft Exchange? The cloud tool behind Microsoft Outlook issues.

Microsoft's popular suite of enterprise products, known as Microsoft 365, which includes Outlook, Teams, and Copilot, suffered from a massive outage on Thursday.Or did it?While more than 100,000 users reported problems accessing Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365 on the platform DownDetector, Microsoft is saying it's actually a cloud tool called Microsoft Exchange that's causing problems. So, what is Microsoft Exchange? And why does it being down affect your ability to access your email or message your coworkers? The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Mashable Light Speed Microsoft Exchange is the backend cloud tool that sends data updates to Outlook. It's essentially the server that stores the actual data, handles the mail flow, syncs the data to services like Outlook, and controls account security policies. Put simply, Outlook is the front end; Exchange is the back end. For most users, though, this is a distinction without a difference. The end result is that users can't access their email, calendar, or messages.The company has been providing updates on the situation on X: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Mashable reached out to Microsoft with questions about the outage, but the company has not responded, as of this writing.