Microsoft 365 Outages: Inside the Sudden Shutdown of Teams, Outlook & More

Microsoft users noticed that a system-wide failure occurred on September 12, 2024. Find out whether the applications were restored.

Microsoft 365 users all noticed a problem on Thursday, September 12. A system-wide failure across multiple applications, including Excel, Teams and Outlook, went into effect that morning, and tens of thousands of workers were frustrated by the delay. The issue came two months after the infamous CrowdStrike situation, which resulted from a faulty software update.

“We’re investigating an issue where users may be unable to access multiple Microsoft 365 services,” the company wrote via X (previously known as Twitter). “Please look for MO888473 in the admin center for more details and further updates.”

What Happened With Microsoft 365?

On September 12, Excel, Teams, Outlook and Word users all went down for more than 20,000 users, who complained about the outage at around 8 a.m. ET, per Downdetector. As the mornigin progressed, less incident reports were present.

Microsoft took to X throughout the morning to provide updates to all users. In one tweet, the company explained why the outage had taken place.

“We’ve confirmed that a change within a third-party ISP’s managed-environment resulted in impact,” one update read via X. “The ISP has reverted the change and we’re now seeing signs of recovery.”

Did Microsoft Outlook Shut Down?

According to USA Today , Microsoft Outlook experienced the most outages. The publication noted that 75 percent of the outage reports were about the Outlook email app, while 17 percent of the reports involved server connections.

Did Microsoft Teams Shut Down?

Countless Microsoft users complained about Teams being down as well.

Was Microsoft Restored?

Later that day, Microsoft updated its users that they “experienced a brief disruption connecting to some Microsoft services on our network” and that “the issue has been resolved and connections are operating normally.”

“We’ve monitored our systems and confirmed that impact has been remediated,” the company tweeted in a separate post at about 11 a.m. ET.

Amid the chaotic outage, Microsoft also experienced a setback in employment. According to Variety, the company is planning to lay off 3 percent of its global team, specifically its Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile video game staff.