Outlook Users Face Disruption Worldwide
Microsoft Outlook had a major outage on Thursday morning, causing email access problems for millions of users in various countries. The outage started to grow significantly after 5 a.m. ET, with thousands of users reporting issues by mid-morning. Affected regions included Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and others. Outlook’s global user base exceeds 400 million accounts, placing the impact on a significant scale.
Login Errors And Slow Loading Impact Access
Many users reported issues logging into their Outlook accounts, while others faced extremely slow loading times. Some received messages stating they no longer held a valid license to access the service. According to DownDetector, 61 percent of reports involved login problems and 34 percent cited server connection errors. The site recorded 2,579 complaints as of 10:25 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Outlook and Hotmail are down worldwide…users can’t log in or access emails. Microsoft says a fix is being rolled out, but no ETA yet. Stay tuned for updates.
#OutlookDown #Hotmail #MicrosoftOutage #EmailIssues pic.twitter.com/Iyp1N8Gdxs
— Pradeep Indika (@kariyawasam) July 10, 2025
Microsoft Confirms The Service Disruption
Microsoft confirmed the issue via its Office service health portal. The company reported that the problem impacted Outlook.com, Outlook Mobile, and the Outlook desktop application. Microsoft stated, “We’re working on it,” in a short statement but did not provide additional technical details. The exact cause of the problem is still unclear. Microsoft has not connected the incident to any larger service changes or cybersecurity issues.
Disruption confirmed by Microsoft
Speculation Surrounds Cause Of Disruption
While speculation arose regarding a potential cyberattack, experts suggested a less severe explanation. Microsoft has a history of problematic updates affecting system stability. In June, Outlook crashed due to issues with the Forms Library. Recent Microsoft outages include a November 2024 incident that impacted Exchange Online and Microsoft Teams calendar features. In September 2024, another problem blocked access to Microsoft 365 services.
Global Service Interruptions Not New To Microsoft
This systems have suffered several large-scale disruptions over the past year. In July 2024, a global IT crash followed a defective update from CrowdStrike. That incident halted operations at banks, hospitals and emergency services worldwide. Flights were grounded and public transport systems were affected. CrowdStrike later confirmed the problem stemmed from a content update affecting It’s Windows Operating System. The company clarified the incident was not related to a cyberattack or security breach.
Microsoft Yet To Announce Resolution Timeline
As of Thursday, It had not provided a resolution timeline for the Outlook issue. The company did not respond to requests for comment from international media outlets. Users across various time zones experienced disruptions during the start of the workday, heightening frustration. Outlook remains a critical communication tool for individuals and businesses globally.
Social Media Users Share Outage Experiences
Users quickly took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to report the problem. Posts ranged from humorous reactions to concerns about delayed work. Hashtags such as #OutlookDown and #Outage trended throughout the morning. Some users reported being locked out of accounts used for both personal and professional purposes.
No Link To Microsoft Authenticator Update
Some media reports connected the outage to Microsoft’s recent announcement about its Authenticator app. revealed the app would delete stored passwords starting in August. However, experts and company representatives denied any connection between that change and Thursday’s disruption. Analysts emphasised the need to avoid linking unrelated system changes without verification.
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Microsoft Continues To Investigate
Some users reported regaining access intermittently, while others continued facing error messages and loading delays. It’s engineering teams continue working on a fix, according to internal sources.
More Clarity Expected In Coming Hours
Its is expected to release further details once its teams complete the root cause analysis. Updates on service health remain live on It’s portal. Users have been advised to monitor official communication channels rather than rely on speculation. The tech giant has previously managed to resolve service issues within hours, though outages of this scale often take longer to stabilise.
Wider Implications For Service Reliability
Thursday’s disruption may increase scrutiny of It’s service stability across global markets. With many organisations dependent on Outlook, sustained outages can impact customer trust. Analysts have suggested Microsoft review its update testing and incident response frameworks. The company’s next major update may include security and performance patches aimed at reducing future outages.
