# Is Outlook down? How to check for a Microsoft 365 outage, and what UK organisations can do

URL: https://computecloud.co.uk/blog/outlook-down-microsoft-365-outage/
Last updated: 2026-11-13
Published: 2026-11-12 by ComputeCloud Team

> Live updates on the Outlook and Microsoft 365 outage that began on 12 Nov 2026 (EX1550543), how to check if Outlook is down, and what staff and admins can do.

On Thursday 12 November 2026 Microsoft confirmed a Microsoft 365 incident, EX1550543, that stopped some users reaching their Exchange Online mailboxes, the email behind Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 services. Here's what Microsoft has said so far, how to check whether a problem is Microsoft's or your own, what staff can do in the meantime, and what admins should do during and after an outage, including how to claim a service credit.

## Key points

- **12 and 13 November 2026: Microsoft is working on incident EX1550543**, which may stop some users connecting to Exchange Online (Outlook) and other Microsoft 365 services. Microsoft first posted about it at 17:54 UK time and says it may affect users in any region. At 12:00 UK time on 13 November it reported encouraging recovery progress in Europe, with service availability and email delivery improving, and said North America was also improving. It said some users may still have intermittent issues and that it had no evidence of malicious activity, and it hadn't given a time for a full fix. Core Teams messaging and meetings largely work.
- **Check Service health first.** In the Microsoft 365 admin centre, go to **Health** > **Service health**. If you can't sign in, use Microsoft's public status page, status.cloud.microsoft, or @MSFT365Status on X.
- **If Microsoft doesn't list your problem, it may be local.** Select **Report an issue** in Service health, and Microsoft checks whether other organisations are seeing it too.
- **Classic Outlook keeps a local copy of the mailbox** in Cached Exchange Mode, the default, so staff can still read recent email while the service is down. New Outlook for Windows has its own offline mode, on by default.
- **Compensation is a service credit, not damages.** Microsoft's Exchange Online credit starts when monthly uptime falls below 99.9%, the claim must reach Microsoft by the end of the following month, and credits don't cover lost revenue.

## Key facts

- **Incident:** EX1550543 (and MO1550821)
- **Microsoft's first post:** 17:54 UK time, 12 Nov 2026
- **Status at 12:00 UK time, 13 Nov:** Service degradation; recovery progressing in Europe
- **Fix time:** Not given yet

## Is Outlook down right now? Live updates on the Microsoft 365 outage

**Last updated 13 November 2026, 12:01 UK time.** Yes, for some users. Microsoft is working on incident **EX1550543**, which its public status page describes as "Users may be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 services". The status is **Service degradation**. The problem is with Exchange Online and the features of other Microsoft 365 services that depend on it: users may be unable to reach their mailbox in Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop, Exchange ActiveSync or REST-based apps, and email delivery may be delayed. Microsoft says most core Teams features, including calls, meetings, group chats and channel messages, aren't affected, and files stored directly in SharePoint Online can still be opened. At 12:00 Microsoft said it was "seeing encouraging recovery progress in Europe, with service availability and email delivery performance improving across a growing portion of affected Microsoft 365 infrastructure". It said Japan "remains comparatively more stable" and North America is also improving, but "some users may still experience intermittent issues as recovery actions continue". The 48-hour email timeout window "remains in place to help protect delayed messages as delivery catches up", and it has "no evidence of malicious activity associated with this incident". It hasn't given a time for a full fix, and its next update is due by 13:00 UK time.

### Timeline of Microsoft's updates

Newest first. Each row is Microsoft's own update, from its [public status page](https://status.cloud.microsoft/) or the [Microsoft 365 Status account on X](https://x.com/MSFT365Status). Times are UK time (GMT). We're adding each new update as Microsoft posts it. We added the 04:36 update later, from Microsoft's post on X. If Microsoft posted other updates between 03:37 and 06:17, Service health in the admin centre has its full history.

| UK time | Where | What Microsoft said |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 (13 Nov) | Status page | "We're seeing encouraging recovery progress in Europe, with service availability and email delivery performance improving across a growing portion of affected Microsoft 365 infrastructure." "Japan remains comparatively more stable, while North America is also improving; however, some users may still experience intermittent issues as recovery actions continue." The 48-hour email timeout window "remains in place". Still "no evidence of malicious activity". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 13:00 |
| 11:02 (13 Nov) | Status page | "We've made additional progress toward service recovery, with recovery actions completed across portions of the affected infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region." Traffic "is being gradually restored", with "improvements in key customer scenarios, including mailbox access and delayed email processing", but "some users may continue to experience intermittent issues". Next it's extending these recovery actions to other regions and adding capacity. The 48-hour email timeout window "remains in place". Still "no evidence of malicious activity". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 12:00 |
| 10:01 (13 Nov) | Status page | "Global telemetry and customer reports show incremental improvement in several workloads; however, service health remains variable and capacity has not yet fully returned to baseline." The email timeout window "has been extended to 48 hours to preserve delayed messages". "We have no evidence of malicious activity associated with this incident." Microsoft also narrowed its Defender for Office 365 entry: Safe Links, Safe Attachments and quarantine are no longer listed, only experiences that rely on Purview data loss prevention or Information Protection signals. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 11:00 |
| 09:10 (13 Nov) | Status page | "We are seeing early signs of stabilization, but service capacity has not yet returned to normal levels and health remains variable as traffic is carefully reintroduced." Engineers are taking affected infrastructure through "traffic drain, restart, remediation, and staged return-to-service" and looking at other ways to speed up recovery. It's extending the email timeout window to 48 hours "to help protect delayed messages". Still "not aware of any malicious activity". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 10:00 |
| 07:29 (13 Nov) | Status page | "We're seeing positive results for server stability after applying an upstream authentication/routing configuration component patch to a portion of our infrastructure." It's monitoring progress and "working to expand it to servers supporting active regions coming online". Still "not aware of any malicious activity". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 08:30 |
| 06:57 (13 Nov) | Status page | It's checking that the "developed patches have been applied and working as intended after infrastructure reboots are completed". "At this point, we have observed marginal success." It's also expanding capacity "through the utilization of Virtual Machines", and is still "not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 07:30 |
| 06:17 (13 Nov) | Status page | It's "evaluating traffic controls that can be applied to increase capacity and stability", including "traffic throttling, protocol adjustments, and failover routing", and expanding internal testing. "As of now, we are not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident." Once it's fixed, Microsoft will give "full details of the root cause" in a post-incident report. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 07:00 |
| 04:36 (13 Nov) | X | It was "adjusting traffic protocols, redistributing traffic, and applying strategic traffic blocking measures", and "observing partial recovery across regions" where it had applied them |
| 03:37 (13 Nov) | Status page | It's "reviewing traffic flows and affected infrastructure to identify opportunities to optimize routing", including "verifying the reasons for service failures so we can develop specific actions to improve stability". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 04:30 |
| 03:07 (13 Nov) | Status page | It had "confirmed that change is not taking as expected", and is "identifying alternate workstreams that can be applied to increase capacity in the face of sustained traffic management imbalances". In Teams, "most of the core functionality including joining calls, meetings, group chats, and channel messages are not impacted". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 03:30 |
| 02:14 (13 Nov) | Status page | It's "applying infrastructure capacity improvements where possible in an effort to help support traffic in regions coming online", and monitoring the results to find actions that "can help to improve service health across all affected regions". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 03:00 |
| 01:50 (13 Nov) | Status page | "We're seeing positive results with our efforts to restart affected infrastructure." It's monitoring the restarted servers to confirm they're stable, and "remediation actions will be expanded as we confirm stability with the changes applied". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 03:00 |
| 01:06 (13 Nov) | Status page | "A process on the affected servers responsible for establishing secure connections becomes overwhelmed, causing the servers to stop processing requests." It's validating a configuration change on a subset of servers before applying it more widely alongside restarts, and has "begun reverting a recent network configuration change that correlates with the start of impact". The traffic limits are now in effect in some locations. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 02:00 |
| 00:56 (13 Nov) | Status page | Microsoft revised its list of affected services and features. "Features of the Microsoft 365 services below that interact with Exchange Online and email services are impacted. Elements of those services that do not depend on interaction with Exchange Online remain functional." Mailbox access may fail in Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop (MAPI), Exchange ActiveSync and REST, and "email delivery may be delayed". In Teams, "core messaging and online meetings remain largely functional". It's "continuing our work to isolate the issue affecting server availability". Status: Service degradation. Next update by 01:30 |
| 00:08 (13 Nov) | Status page | The servers returned to service "initially remain healthy", but "can become unresponsive again once they begin receiving traffic". It's temporarily limiting which types of traffic can reach the affected infrastructure in some locations, to find out whether a particular type of request is contributing and to "restore service incrementally", and rebuilding some servers "using a previous software configuration". Windows 365 added to the affected services, for Cloud PCs set up with Microsoft Purview Customer Key. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 01:30 |
| 23:06 | Status page | It had "begun returning a portion of the affected servers to service, and they're remaining stable so far", and had "observed limited recovery in some regions" after shifting traffic to other pathways. It's speeding up the return of the remaining servers and reducing load with traffic measures in one location, to be widened if they work. "As capacity is restored, users may experience a gradual recovery as their clients reconnect to the service." Universal Print added to the affected services. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 00:30 on 13 November |
| 22:11 | Status page | Its actions so far "have not provided the anticipated relief". "A core process on the affected servers is becoming overwhelmed, which causes the servers to stop responding." It's fully isolating part of its infrastructure, restarting the affected components and gradually reintroducing traffic to test a recovery approach, and looking at whether isolating traffic within each region would let regions recover independently. Microsoft 365 Apps admin center added to the affected services. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 23:30 |
| 21:41 | Status page | It was "continuing to work through restarting and validating the affected servers to safely return them to service", "exploring opportunities to expedite this process", and "assessing whether reverting the small number of recent configuration updates we identified could help accelerate recovery". Microsoft Intune, Defender for Office 365 and Power BI added to the affected services. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 22:30 |
| 21:01 | Status page | It had "validated an alternative health check method on a subset of affected infrastructure, which allowed the servers in that subset to successfully return to service", and was "now applying this change more broadly". It's also preparing an automated process to detect and restart unresponsive servers, and investigating "a small number of configuration updates" as possible contributors. Microsoft Purview added to the affected services. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 22:30 |
| 20:44 | Status page | "Many of the affected servers have become unresponsive", so Microsoft is restarting them with its change in place and trying the same approach on other affected parts of its infrastructure. Status: Service degradation. Next update by 21:30 |
| 20:19 | X | It had "not identified any recent change correlated with the start of impact" |
| 19:50 | X | It was testing a configuration change for "a problem that's causing servers to fail automated health checks and become unavailable", and restarting all affected servers |
| 19:31 | X | The load "isn't driven by an increase in traffic, but by a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable" |
| 19:12 | X | It had "paused all deployments", and was moving traffic off the affected infrastructure and restarting affected servers |
| 18:48 | X | It had "begun redistributing connection traffic across our broader worldwide infrastructure to help balance the load" |
| 18:35 | X | "A portion of infrastructure is experiencing elevated load across multiple regions", with more information under EX1550543 and MO1550821 |
| 18:07 | X | The issue "may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region" |
| 17:54 | X | It was "investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas", under EX1550543 |

**What's affected.** Since 00:56 on 13 November Microsoft has said that the features of its services that interact with Exchange Online are affected, and the parts that don't depend on Exchange Online still work. Its list includes mailbox access and email delivery in Exchange Online; Teams calendar, scheduling and live or virtual events, while most core Teams features, including calls, meetings, group chats and channel messages, aren't affected; SharePoint features that depend on Exchange, while files stored directly in SharePoint still open; Copilot Chat; Defender for Office 365 features that rely on Purview data loss prevention or Information Protection signals (since 10:01 Microsoft no longer lists Safe Links, Safe Attachments or quarantine); Microsoft Graph requests for mail, calendar and contacts; some Microsoft 365 admin centre, Defender and Purview portal pages; Intune device enrolment, check-in and compliance policies; Planner and To Do; sensitivity-label exports in Power BI and Microsoft Fabric; Universal Print; Microsoft 365 Education features such as Assignments; and Windows 365 Cloud PCs set up to use Microsoft Purview Customer Key. Exchange Online is the email service behind Outlook for work and school accounts. Separately, at 15:40 UK time Microsoft posted about a Teams issue in North America (TM1550488), and [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/outlook-widespread-outage-hits-microsoft-apps-rcna609047) reports that Microsoft later said it had "successfully restored" that.

**Where.** Microsoft's first post named the Americas. Thirteen minutes later it said users in any region may be affected. At 11:02 on 13 November it said it had completed recovery actions on parts of its infrastructure in Asia Pacific and was extending them to other regions. At 12:00 it reported "encouraging recovery progress in Europe", said Japan "remains comparatively more stable" and said North America was also improving. It hasn't named the UK.

**How many.** NBC News reported more than 120,000 Outlook reports on Downdetector at around 1:30 pm US Eastern time (18:30 UK time). Those are user reports collected by Downdetector, not Microsoft figures.

**The admin centre.** [How-To Geek](https://www.howtogeek.com/microsoft-outlook-outage-downdetector/) reported that some users also had trouble reaching Microsoft's admin portal, and since 00:56 on 13 November Microsoft itself has said admins "may be unable to load some admin center pages". Microsoft's posts point to status.cloud.microsoft "if the admin center is not available to you".

Between our updates, check Microsoft's own channels, in the next section.

## How do I check whether Microsoft 365 is down?

Check Microsoft's Service health first. Microsoft's advice is to check it "to determine whether this is a known issue with a resolution in progress before you call support or spend time troubleshooting".

| Where to look | Who can use it | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| **Service health** in the Microsoft 365 admin centre | Admins, including the Service Support admin and Helpdesk admin roles | Incidents and advisories for your organisation, with every update Microsoft posts |
| **Microsoft 365 Admin app** | Admins, on a phone | Service health, with push notifications |
| **[status.cloud.microsoft](https://status.cloud.microsoft/)** | Anyone, no sign-in needed | Known issues that stop people signing in to their tenant |
| **[@MSFT365Status](https://x.com/MSFT365Status) on X** | Anyone | Information on "certain events", today with the incident ID |

### Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin centre

1. Sign in at admin.microsoft.com with an admin account.
2. Go to **Health** > **Service health**, or select the **Service health** card on the **Home** dashboard.
3. Under **Active issues Microsoft is working on**, select the issue's title.

The issue page shows its ID, when it was last updated, the estimated start time, the affected services, whether it's an incident or an advisory, where it started, its status, the impact on users and every update Microsoft has posted. The **Issue history** tab shows issues resolved in the last 7 or 30 days.

Microsoft uses two types of issue:

- **Advisory:** Microsoft is "aware of a problem that is affecting some users, but the service is still available". There's often a workaround.
- **Incident:** "a critical issue and the service or a major function of the service is unavailable", for example users who can't send and receive email or sign in.

The status tells you how far Microsoft has got:

| Status | What Microsoft means |
|---|---|
| Investigating | It's aware of a potential issue and is gathering information |
| Service degradation | It has confirmed an issue that might affect use of a service or feature, such as slowness, intermittent interruptions or a feature not working |
| Service interruption | The issue affects users' ability to access the service, and can be reproduced consistently |
| Restoring service | It has found the cause and is bringing the service back to a healthy state |
| Extended recovery | The fix is in progress for most users but will take time to reach every affected system, or a temporary fix is in place |
| Service restored | The fix has resolved the problem and the service is healthy |
| Post-incident report published | Microsoft has published a report with the root cause and next steps |

### Use the incident ID

Every issue has an ID, and Microsoft's posts on X quote it. Today's is **EX1550543**, and Microsoft also points to **MO1550821**. Find the ID in Service health to read Microsoft's full updates, and quote it to anyone helping you, so everyone is looking at the same issue.

### If you can't sign in to the admin centre

Microsoft says that if you can't sign in to the admin centre, you can use its [service status page](https://status.cloud.microsoft/) "to check for known issues preventing you from logging into your tenant", and follow [@MSFT365Status](https://x.com/MSFT365Status) on X. Today Microsoft's own posts point admins to the status page when the admin centre isn't available.

### Is it Microsoft, or your own device or network?

Service health is also the best way to rule Microsoft in or out:

- **If an active issue matches what staff are seeing,** follow it, rather than spending time troubleshooting each device.
- **Issues for your organization to act on** lists problems Microsoft has detected in your own environment that need you to do something. The section only appears when there's something to act on.
- **The issue origin** on each issue says whether it was found at Microsoft or in your environment.
- **If nothing is listed,** select **Report an issue** and fill in the short form. Microsoft says it looks at related data and at reports from other organisations to see how widespread the problem is, and adds it to Service health if it started in its service. The **Reported issues** tab tracks what you've reported.

Microsoft doesn't count problems caused by third-party service providers, or by changes made in your own environment, as service incidents.

## What can staff do while Outlook is down?

Keep working from what Outlook has already downloaded, and wait for Microsoft's fix. Microsoft says that as capacity is restored, users may see a gradual recovery as their apps reconnect to the service. Microsoft's list shows that other ways into the mailbox are affected too, but Teams chat and meetings mostly work.

- **Don't count on another email app.** Microsoft says users may be unable to reach their mailbox through Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop (MAPI), Exchange ActiveSync or REST-based connections, and that email delivery may be delayed.
- **Use Teams chat and meetings.** Microsoft says most core Teams features, "including joining calls, meetings, group chats, and channel messages", aren't affected, although Teams calendar, scheduling and live or virtual events, which depend on Exchange Online, may fail. Files stored directly in SharePoint Online can still be opened.
- **Classic Outlook for Windows** uses Cached Exchange Mode by default, which keeps a copy of the mailbox on the computer. Microsoft says that if the connection drops, "the user can continue to access the last available email data". Email drafted while offline is sent automatically once Outlook is back online. By default, Outlook only keeps the last 12 months of email on the computer.
- **New Outlook for Windows** doesn't have Cached Exchange Mode, but its own offline mode is on by default. Offline, staff can read email, view calendars and people, create drafts and send new messages to the Outbox. By default it saves 30 days of email.

| | Classic Outlook (Cached Exchange Mode) | New Outlook for Windows (offline mode) |
|---|---|---|
| On by default | Yes | Yes |
| Read email already downloaded | Yes, by default the last 12 months | Yes, by default the last 30 days |
| Write email | Yes, drafts are sent automatically when Outlook reconnects | Drafts, and new messages to the Outbox |
| Change it | **File** > **Account Settings** > **Account Settings**, select the account, **Change**, **Use Cached Exchange Mode** | **Settings** > **General** > **Offline** |

Some things need the server even in Cached Exchange Mode, so they won't work until the service is back. Microsoft's list includes:

- setting, changing or cancelling an out-of-office message;
- checking other people's free/busy information;
- shared folders and public folders that weren't made available offline;
- editing rules, and MailTips.

## What should admins do during and after an outage?

### During the outage

1. **Follow the incident in Service health.** Open it and select **Manage notifications for this issue** to get each update by email, at up to two addresses per admin. The Microsoft 365 Admin app gives push notifications. Microsoft says incident updates come every hour, unless the post gives a different time. Today's status page gives a "next update by" time.
2. **Tell your users.** Say what's affected, what still works offline (above) and when Microsoft's next update is due. If Microsoft lists both email and Teams, use a way of reaching staff that doesn't depend on them.
3. **Keep a record.** Note when problems started and ended for your organisation, how many users were affected and where, and the errors they saw. Microsoft asks for all of these if you claim a service credit (below).

### After the outage: Microsoft's post-incident report

For unplanned incidents with "broad and noticeable impact across a large number of organizations", Microsoft delivers a **preliminary post-incident review (PIR)** through Service health within 48 hours of the incident being resolved, then a **final PIR within five business days**. It covers the impact on users, the start and end times, a timeline, the root cause and what Microsoft is doing to stop it happening again.

Other incidents get a closure summary in Service health instead, with the root cause, start and end times and next steps, but no PIR. Service health keeps the history of incidents that affected your organisation for 30 days, so save anything you need for a claim or your own review.

### Can you claim a service credit?

Possibly, but only as a credit against your fees. Microsoft's [Service Level Agreement for Microsoft Online Services](https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/docs/view/Service-Level-Agreements-SLA-for-Online-Services) (the version dated 1 November 2026) defines Exchange Online downtime as "Any period of time when users are unable to send or receive email with Outlook Web Access". So if Outlook on the web still works, it isn't downtime under the SLA, even if desktop Outlook can't connect. There's no scheduled downtime for Exchange Online.

| Exchange Online monthly uptime | Service credit |
|---|---|
| Below 99.9% | 25% |
| Below 99% | 50% |
| Below 95% | 100% |

Microsoft measures downtime in user-minutes: the length of each incident multiplied by the number of users it affected. Uptime is the month's total user-minutes, less downtime, as a percentage of the total. November has 30 days, or 43,200 minutes, so uptime falls below 99.9% if none of your users can send or receive email with Outlook on the web for more than about 43 minutes in the month, or half of them for more than about 86 minutes. Microsoft makes the final decision from the information available to it.

To claim, Microsoft says "you must submit the claim to customer support at Microsoft Corporation including all information necessary for Microsoft to validate the claim". That includes:

- a detailed description of the incident;
- the time and duration of the downtime;
- the affected resource names;
- the number and locations of affected users;
- a description of the errors.

Microsoft rejects claims without the required information. For Microsoft 365 services, it must receive the claim by the end of the month after the month of the incident, so by **31 December 2026** for an incident on 12 November. Microsoft says it typically processes claims within 45 days. If you buy Microsoft 365 through a reseller or partner, ask them how claims work for your agreement.

Keep expectations realistic:

- Service credits are Microsoft's "sole and exclusive remedy". They aren't awarded for lost revenue, operational costs or other losses.
- Microsoft's outage messages "are not a confirmation of missed Service Levels or Service Credits eligibility".
- The SLA doesn't cover problems outside Microsoft's control, such as a network or device failure at your site or between your site and Microsoft's data centre.

A Microsoft 365 backup doesn't keep email working during an outage like this one. It protects data you may need to restore, which is a different problem. Our [Microsoft 365 backup guide](https://computecloud.co.uk/microsoft-365/backup/) explains what it covers.

If the outage has you reviewing how your organisation uses Microsoft 365, our [free Microsoft 365 assessment](https://computecloud.co.uk/microsoft-365/assessment/) looks at your setup and the next steps.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Outlook down for everyone?

Not necessarily. On 12 November 2026 Microsoft said users "may be unable to connect" to Exchange Online and other Microsoft 365 services, first in the Americas and then possibly in any region. To see whether a Microsoft incident matches what your staff see, check Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, or Microsoft's public status page, status.cloud.microsoft, if you can't sign in.

### How long will the Outlook outage last?

Microsoft hadn't said at 12:00 UK time on 13 November 2026. It reported encouraging recovery progress in Europe and improvement in North America, but said some users may still have intermittent issues as recovery continues. It will share a post-incident report with the root cause after mitigation is complete. Its next update is due by 13:00 UK time. Microsoft says most service incidents are resolved within a short time, but some are more serious and can lead to longer outages. Follow the incident, EX1550543, in Service health for the latest.

### Is the Microsoft 365 outage a cyber attack?

Microsoft says not, as far as it knows. At 06:17 UK time on 13 November 2026 it said: "As of now, we are not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident." Once the issue is fixed, Microsoft says it will give full details of the root cause in a post-incident report, which admins can read in Service health.

### Can I get compensation for a Microsoft 365 outage?

Only as a service credit under Microsoft's Service Level Agreement for Microsoft Online Services. For Exchange Online, the credit is 25% of the monthly fees for that service when monthly uptime falls below 99.9%, 50% below 99% and 100% below 95%. You must claim through Microsoft customer support with the details of the incident, and Microsoft must receive the claim by the end of the month after the incident. Credits don't compensate for lost revenue or other losses.

### Where can I see Microsoft 365 status?

Admins can see it under Health > Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, or in the Microsoft 365 Admin app. If you can't sign in, Microsoft's public status page is at status.cloud.microsoft, and Microsoft posts about some events on X as @MSFT365Status.

### Is the UK affected by the Outlook outage?

Microsoft hasn't named the UK. Its first post, at 17:54 UK time on 12 November 2026, named the Americas. At 18:07 UK time it said the issue "may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region". At 11:02 UK time on 13 November it said it had completed recovery actions on parts of its infrastructure in Asia Pacific and was extending them to other regions, and at 12:00 it reported "encouraging recovery progress in Europe". It still hasn't named the UK. Check Service health to see whether your own organisation is affected.

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Plan how your organisation copes with Microsoft 365 problems with a free Microsoft 365 assessment: https://computecloud.co.uk/microsoft-365/assessment/