Microsoft 365 Outage: Thousands of Users Affected by Email and Calendar Service Disruptions

Image credits: Michel Euler/AP

Microsoft 365 users in Canada experienced a significant outage on Monday, with over 2,400 complaints logged on the Canadian version of the site DownDetector, which tracks real-time website and app outages. The issues reported included problems logging into and using Microsoft Outlook, just days after thousands of customers reported a similar service outage involving the email and calendar service. By around 12:30 p.m., some users saw service to their software returning, and the total number of disruptions logged on Downdetector fell to under 1,000 shortly before 2 p.m.

The outage reports began spiking around 11:35 a.m. and appeared to be largely localized to Canada, according to Downdetector. The site did not log a significant number of outage reports in other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, or New Zealand. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment but said on X that it was “investigating reports of issues accessing Microsoft 365 services” shortly after 1 p.m. The company also warned about issues affecting Microsoft Teams, to which several users on the social media platform X responded regarding the Outlook outage.

Several universities in Ontario posted on X, advising their staff and students of the outage, while the University Health Network also advised of disruptions to virtual appointments in a post on X. On Saturday afternoon, Outlook and Microsoft 365 were down due to what the company described as a “problematic code change.” More than 26,000 people reported issues with logging in, emails loading, and programs crashing during the weekend outage. The Microsoft 365 outage is the latest in a series of disruptions to affect the company's services, including a recent issue with Microsoft Teams that caused call failures and authentication problems.

According to the third-party site Downdetector, there were over 4,000 flagged reports in Canada by 4:11 p.m. EST, with tens of thousands of users globally reporting issues with Microsoft 365 programs, including Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. Some users were also having issues with Xbox services. Earlier this week, communications platform Slack experienced a similar outage that left thousands of users unable to access the service. Microsoft has yet to share what regions are impacted by this ongoing outage and more information on the incident's root cause.

Despite the company saying the incident only affects the Teams communication platform, users report a much broader impact, with issues connecting to Outlook, OneDrive, and Exchange or checking email messages. The company has warned that customers in Canada are experiencing authentication and connectivity issues when trying to access multiple Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, and the Microsoft 365 admin center. The recent outages have highlighted the need for reliable and secure cloud services, with many users relying on Microsoft 365 for their daily work and communication needs. As the company continues to investigate and resolve the issues, users can expect further updates on the status of the outage and any steps being taken to prevent similar disruptions in the future.