Thousands of Microsoft users report Outlook 365 systems going down

Just under 16,000 users were reporting problems as of 3.30 p.m. ET Thursday

Thousands of Microsoft users have reported problems with their Outlook 365 email systems.

Just under 16,000 users were reporting problems as of 3.30 p.m. ET Thursday, according to tracking site DownDetector.com.

“We're investigating a potential issue impacting multiple Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Purview. Further information can be found in the admin center under MO1221364,” the company wrote on X, in response to the reports.

Microsoft said it had identified part of its service infrastructure in North America that “is not processing traffic as expected,” though it did not specify where.

“We're working to restore the infrastructure to a healthy state to achieve recovery,” the company added.

Thousands of Microsoft users have reported problems with their Outlook 365 email systems. Just under 16,000 users were reporting problems as of 3.30 p.m. ET Thursday, according to tracking site DownDetector.com (Getty Images)

An update around 4 p.m. ET read: “We're continuing to review what actions are required to restore the affected infrastructure to a heathy state and rebalance the service traffic to achieve recovery.” At the same time, reports of issues dropped to around 13,000.

One user wrote: “Email is the backbone of communication in corporate America, this is a very bad look.” Another added: “Just another day with Microsoft... Everything seems to be in the red on the admin and email delivery side.”

However, while some users were annoyed by the disruption, others didn’t seem to mind so much.

“Oh no. Outlook is down and I can’t receive any emails at work,” wrote one user, while another added: “Looks like I get the day off.”

“Issues with outlook are preferred at 9 a.m,” wrote a third.

The Independent has contacted for Microsoft for further details around Thursday’s outages.