Microsoft Outlook Experiences 21-Hour Outage Affecting Users Worldwide

Microsoft’s Outlook email service encountered a major malfunction that lasted for more than 21 hours on Wednesday and Thursday, severely disrupting users’ ability to access their inboxes. The issue began at 6:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday and affected a wide range of Outlook services, including Outlook.com, mobile apps, and desktop programs. By Thursday afternoon, many users reported problems logging in or viewing emails, with over 2,700 complaints recorded on outage tracker Downdetector at the peak of the disruption. Microsoft began rolling out a fix at 12:21 p.m. ET on Thursday, but encountered difficulties with the initial solution. While some users saw improvements by later in the day, many continued to struggle with the service throughout the outage period. Microsoft has not disclosed the specific cause of the malfunction, and representatives were unavailable for further comment. The outage highlights the vulnerability of widely used email platforms and the widespread reliance on these services for communication and business operations.