The Microsoft outage that began on 12 November has disrupted Outlook and other Microsoft 365 services, with problems continuing into 13 November. But the impact is not the same across every service or organisation, and not every feature within an affected product has stopped working.
Communications are disrupted worldwide, affecting GP practices, police forces, banks and governments. For organisations caught up in the disruption, the practical question is how to keep people in contact when email is unavailable.
What happened technically?
Microsoft said some servers became unexpectedly unavailable, leaving the remaining infrastructure under greater strain rather than facing a surge in traffic. It also identified a process responsible for establishing secure connections becoming overwhelmed, causing affected servers to stop processing requests.
Recovery efforts included restarting servers, limiting traffic and rolling back a recent network configuration change.
As of 13 November 2026, 14:01 GMT: Outlook access and email delivery are gradually improving, with Microsoft reporting that email queues have significantly reduced and are approaching normal levels. Recovery is not yet complete: some users may still experience intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery.
Microsoft says it is restoring the remaining affected infrastructure and checking that recovery is sustained across connection methods. It has found no evidence of malicious activity associated with the incident. A full Post-Incident Report will be published, including the root cause and further protective measures, after mitigation is complete.
What the Microsoft outage means for communications
Microsoft’s disruption extends beyond the Outlook inbox, with the company reporting problems with calendar features and Copilot. Messaging and online meetings have remained largely functional.
That distinction matters. A service can be partly available while a particular task, such as checking a calendar, remains difficult. Equally, an email problem should not be treated as evidence that an organisation’s applications or underlying infrastructure have failed.
For Just After Midnight customers, the impact identified by our team so far is on email communications. If you need to reach us and email is unavailable, use your existing Slack channel, if you have one, or call your dedicated support number.
For urgent issues, follow your agreed escalation process rather than waiting for an email response. If you have already emailed, mention this when you contact us and include any existing ticket reference.
The broader lesson is practical: support arrangements need a contact route that doesn’t rely on the same service as everyday communications. Keep those details somewhere accessible without opening your inbox.
