- Microsoft has an email outage. Exchange Online, the service behind Outlook and business email in Microsoft 365, is having connection problems. Microsoft is tracking it as incident EX1550543.
- It is not your computer. Outlook on the desktop, on the web and on phones are all affected, and some people report trouble with other Microsoft 365 apps too.
- Leave your settings alone. Do not reinstall Outlook, recreate your profile or change your email configuration. None of it will help, and it can cause real problems later.
- No confirmed fix time yet. Try again every so often, and pick up the phone for anything urgent.
- Regroove clients: we are following Microsoft's updates. If you are not sure whether your problem is part of this, ask us.
If Outlook stopped connecting this morning, or your inbox has gone quiet, you are not alone and you have not done anything wrong. Microsoft is dealing with a service disruption in Exchange Online, the platform that runs Outlook and business email for Microsoft 365.
This is a short advisory on what we know so far, what to do while it lasts, and just as important, what to leave alone.
What is happening
On Thursday, November 12, 2026, Microsoft acknowledged a problem with Exchange Online. In its words, it is investigating reports of people having trouble reaching their mailboxes through more than one connection method. The first reports came in at around 10:00 a.m. Pacific time, and Microsoft has said the impact is centred on the Americas.
What that looks like depends on how you read your email:
- Outlook on the desktop cannot connect to the Microsoft Exchange server. You may see Disconnected or Trying to connect in the status bar, or be asked for your password again and again.
- Outlook on the web is slow to load, shows an error, or does not open your mailbox at all.
- Outlook on your phone does not sync, so new mail does not arrive and sent mail sits waiting.
- Other Microsoft 365 services. Some people have also reported difficulty with other Microsoft apps, including Teams and SharePoint.
Microsoft is investigating connection errors inside its own Exchange Online infrastructure. It has not yet published a root cause.
How to tell if this is what you are seeing
Two quick checks will tell you whether your problem belongs to this disruption or is something local that needs a closer look.
- Ask the person next to you. If several people lost email at about the same time, the cause is not one computer.
- Try another way in. Open Outlook on the web from your phone using mobile data, away from the office wireless network. If that fails as well, the problem is not your computer and not your office network.
If only one person is affected and email works for them on another device, that is a different problem, and it is worth a call to your IT support.
What you should do, and what you should not
For now, we recommend the following.
- Do not change your Outlook settings. The fault is on Microsoft's side. Changing your email configuration will not fix it.
- Do not reinstall Outlook or recreate your email profile. A new profile has to download your whole mailbox again, which cannot happen while the service is unreachable and takes a long time once it is back. Outlook will reconnect on its own.
- Do not reset your password to get back in. Repeated password prompts are a symptom of the connection problem, not a sign that your password is wrong.
- Try again every so often. Access can come back for some people before others while Microsoft works on it.
- Use another way to reach people. For anything that cannot wait, call or text. If Teams is working for you, use that for colleagues.
- Keep working where you can. Outlook on the desktop still shows the mail it has already downloaded. Anything you send waits in your Outbox and goes out when the connection returns.
One more caution. Outages like this are a gift to scammers, who know that people are expecting messages about their email. Be wary of any message, call or pop up that asks you to sign in somewhere new or confirm your password to restore your mailbox. Microsoft will not ask you to do that.
Will email sent to you be lost?
It is unlikely. When a mail server cannot deliver a message it does not throw the message away. It holds it and tries again, usually for at least a day. Messages sent to you during the disruption should arrive once Exchange Online is reachable again, although some may show up late or out of order. If you were expecting something time sensitive, a quick call to the sender is the safest option.
When will service be restored?
Microsoft is actively investigating, but it has not announced a confirmed restoration time. Some news outlets are reporting that access began to return for many people within about an hour. Until Microsoft marks EX1550543 as resolved, expect connections to come and go.
Because the service is hosted and run by Microsoft, no IT provider, Regroove included, can repair the underlying infrastructure. What we can do is tell you quickly whether a problem is part of the disruption, and help with anything that is still not right after service returns.
What Regroove is doing
We are following Microsoft's service health updates and monitoring the situation across the tenants we look after.
If you are a Regroove client and Outlook or another Microsoft 365 app will not connect today, the cause is most likely this wider disruption and not your computer or your local network. If you are not sure, or if email is still not working for you after Microsoft reports the incident as resolved, get in touch and we will take a look.
Where to check the status
- Microsoft 365 Status. The public status page. Anyone can view it without signing in.
- Microsoft 365 Service health. The full incident record, with every update from Microsoft. You need Microsoft 365 administrator access to open it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Outlook down right now?
On Thursday, November 12, 2026, Microsoft confirmed a service disruption in Exchange Online, the service behind Outlook and business email in Microsoft 365. Microsoft is tracking it as incident EX1550543. People have had trouble reaching their mailboxes from Outlook on the desktop, Outlook on the web and Outlook on a phone.
Is the Outlook problem on my computer or on Microsoft's side?
If Outlook stopped connecting on the morning of November 12, 2026 and your colleagues have the same problem, it is almost certainly the Microsoft disruption and not your computer, your password or your office network. A quick test is to open Outlook on the web from a phone on mobile data. If that fails too, the problem is not local.
Should I reinstall Outlook or recreate my email profile during the outage?
No. The fault is inside Microsoft's service, so reinstalling Outlook, recreating your profile or changing account settings will not bring your mailbox back. It can leave you with a long resync, missing cached mail or a broken profile to repair once service returns.
Will I lose emails that were sent to me during the outage?
It is unlikely. Mail servers that cannot deliver a message hold it and try again, usually for at least a day, so messages sent to you during a disruption normally arrive once Exchange Online is reachable again. Messages you wrote while disconnected wait in your Outbox and send when Outlook reconnects.
Where can I check the status of Microsoft 365?
Anyone can check the public Microsoft 365 status page at status.cloud.microsoft. Administrators can see the full incident, including updates on EX1550543, under Health and then Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Sources
- Microsoft 365 Service health, incident EX1550543, and the Microsoft 365 Status page
- NBC Chicago: Is Microsoft Outlook down? Company investigates error reports
This advisory reflects the information available on November 12, 2026. The scope and status of the incident may change as Microsoft continues its investigation.
Author: Elian Figueiredo