Microsoft 365 outage 13 Nov: Outlook, Teams and Copilot problems

Microsoft 365 has had a wide service problem since early Friday 13 November 2026, Malaysia time. Microsoft says users may be unable to open their Exchange Online mailboxes in Outlook, and that Copilot, Teams calendar features and parts of SharePoint are affected too. As of 3.20pm Malaysia time it was not yet fixed. This is a Microsoft problem, so there is nothing to repair on your own PCs.

What Microsoft says happened

Microsoft's own status account first reported the problem at about 1.54am Malaysia time on 13 November. At that point it said users in the Americas could not reach Exchange Online mailboxes through several connection methods. The incident number for admins is EX1550543.

By 2.57pm Malaysia time, the Microsoft status page listed the problem as a service degradation across many Microsoft 365 services. According to Microsoft:

• Outlook on the web, the Outlook desktop app and phone mail apps may fail to open Exchange Online mailboxes, and email delivery may be delayed.
• Copilot Chat may not load or answer, and Copilot may not be able to reach email, calendar and files.
• In Teams, calls, meetings, group chats and channel messages mostly work. Calendar features, scheduling, meeting invites and live events are affected.
• In SharePoint, files stored directly in SharePoint still open. Features that depend on Exchange Online may fail.
• Some Microsoft 365 admin center pages may not load.

Microsoft also lists problems for home users of Outlook.com, OneDrive, OneNote, To Do, Teams and Microsoft 365 on the web.

Microsoft has not given a root cause yet. It says it is not aware of any malicious activity behind the incident, that it is rebooting infrastructure, applying patches and adding capacity, and that it will publish a Post-Incident Report once the problem is mitigated. Its next update was due at 3.30pm Malaysia time.

What to do

1. Check Microsoft first. Open the Microsoft status page at status.cloud.microsoft. If you are the IT admin, sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center, open Health, then Service health, and look for EX1550543. That page tells you if your own company is affected.
2. Do not reset passwords and do not reinstall Outlook. Your password and your PC are not the problem. A reset during an outage can lock staff out of other devices once service comes back.
3. Try another way in. If Outlook on the PC will not connect, try Outlook on the web or the Outlook app on your phone. Some staff may get through on one and not the other. Files saved directly in SharePoint or OneDrive may still open.
4. Do not resend the same email many times. Microsoft says delivery may be delayed. Mail stuck in a queue usually arrives later on its own, and resending only creates duplicates for your customers.
5. Keep a backup channel ready. Agree with your team to use WhatsApp, a phone call or a Teams chat for urgent matters until mail is stable. For a time sensitive quotation or invoice, call the customer to confirm they received it.
6. Once Microsoft says the incident is resolved, ask staff to restart Outlook and check their sent items and outbox.

Update 13 Nov, 6.20pm Malaysia time

Still not fully fixed. Microsoft's status page still lists Microsoft 365 as "Service degradation" for Outlook.com, OneDrive, OneNote, To Do, Teams and Microsoft 365 on the web. Its last update, at 2.24pm Malaysia time, says it is working on several fixes at once to find the source of the problem and recover the affected systems.

Microsoft has also given a first cause on its status account on X: a core process on the affected servers became overwhelmed, which cut the capacity of the service. It says the earlier fixes did not give the relief it expected, so it is opening every path it has to restore service. There is still no time for a full fix. The steps above still apply: wait, do not reset passwords, and keep WhatsApp or the phone ready for urgent matters.

Update 14 Nov, 7.45am Malaysia time

Getting better, but Microsoft has not called it fixed. Its status page still shows "Service degradation". In its latest update, at 4.03am Malaysia time on 14 November, Microsoft says its systems are stabilising and it is still clearing queued messages and spreading traffic again. Sign-in and access may work again before mail delivery catches up, and it has no time yet for full recovery.

What this means for your office: Outlook may open again before every delayed email arrives. Give it a few hours before you resend anything. If a customer says your email did not arrive, check your Sent Items first, then send it once more or call them. Some emails sent on Friday may have bounced back with a delivery failure notice. Those need to be sent again.

Is your Synctech hosting affected?

No. This outage is on Microsoft's side and only affects services that Microsoft runs. If your company email is hosted with Synctech instead of Microsoft 365, this incident does not affect it. If you are not sure where your mail is hosted, or mail is still failing after Microsoft says it is fixed, our email troubleshooting help page explains how to reach us.

Source and credit

We are sharing this news from Microsoft, Lowyat.NET and SoyaCincau. This summary is written by Synctech in our own words.

• Microsoft 365 Status post on Exchange Online mailbox access (EX1550543), Microsoft 365 Status on X, 12 November 2026: https://x.com/MSFT365Status/status/2120938282204688468
• Microsoft service health status, Microsoft, 13 November 2026: https://status.cloud.microsoft
• Microsoft 365 Status update on restoring service, Microsoft 365 Status on X, 13 November 2026: https://x.com/MSFT365Status/status/2121002505911857577
• Microsoft 365 (Consumer) service status, Microsoft, 13 November 2026: https://status.cloud.microsoft/api/posts/m365Consumer
• Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams And Other Services Hit By Widespread Outage, Lowyat.NET, 13 November 2026: https://www.lowyat.net/2026/409702/microsoft-365-outlook-teams-outage/
• Microsoft 365 suffers major outage affecting Teams, Outlook, SharePoint and Copilot, SoyaCincau, 13 November 2026: https://soyacincau.com/2026/11/13/microsoft-365-business-enterprise-outage-teams-outlook-sharepoint-copilot-xrs/ Retrieved 13 Nov 2026 (updates retrieved 13 Nov 6.20pm and 14 Nov 7.45am). Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, OneNote, Exchange Online and Copilot are trademarks of their owners. Synctech is not connected with them. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. If anything here is wrong, email support@synctech.com.my and we will correct it.

Updated 13 Nov 2026, 6.20pm: added Microsoft's latest status and its first word on the cause. Updated 14 Nov 2026, 7.45am: Microsoft says service is stabilising and queued mail is still being delivered.