Update 9 AM Eastern, Friday, November 13, 2026: Microsoft services are now working for most of our clients. Please check Microsoft’s status page for further updates.
Microsoft runs products like Outlook email on its servers around the world. When you send or receive email, your computer connects to Microsoft servers. Something went wrong with these servers, breaking email.
Other Microsoft products were also affected. For most people, email is the most noticeable.
The outage began around 12 PM Eastern on Thursday, November 12, 2026. Email started to become available again around 7:30 AM Eastern on Friday, November 13.
Currently, no one is really sure. Microsoft claims that the outage was not caused by a cyberattack or malicious activity. Our best guess is that a configuration change or update went wrong, causing issues that spread across Microsoft’s servers. Microsoft may eventually publish more details. Until then, we can only speculate.
GMITS is a Microsoft partner. We manage and secure our clients’ Microsoft systems. But these systems still rely on Microsoft’s servers. We must wait for Microsoft to fix their issues, just like everyone else.
We provide backups of Microsoft 365 data, including email. We can help you recover if any data is lost. Our 24/7 security and monitoring services have remained active throughout the outage.
Our support email (support@greenmtnit.com) was affected, but we remain available for support by phone at 802-489-6948.
You should not lose any email that was already in your mailbox before the outage.
Any emails that were sent to you during the outage will probably be delivered. Email delivery may be delayed, up to 48 hours in some instances. In rare cases, email delivery may fail and the sender will need to re-send.
Many clients are frustrated. We at GMITS are frustrated, too. It’s reasonable to be questioning Microsoft at this point. However, switching email providers is a major decision and shouldn’t be made in haste.
While we are in no way defending Microsoft, all cloud systems have outages. Google Workspace, which is the other popular choice for business email, has also suffered outages (though the current Microsoft outage is unusually severe and prolonged). A switch wouldn’t eliminate the risk. You’d just be trading one provider’s risk for another’s.
Some may wonder about moving away from cloud systems altogether. Twenty years ago, many businesses ran email servers in-house. Today, in-house non-cloud email is a difficult and expensive option.
It’s also worth asking what good it does to have email working, when many of the people you need to communicate with are still using Microsoft and can’t receive your emails anyway!
Cloud platforms remain a strong choice for most businesses. Like electricity, water, and food, most of us rely on third parties to provide essential services. This reliance creates some risk, but it also brings major benefits. Cloud systems are more secure, and usually more reliable, than almost any business could build on their own. Cloud also removes the need to purchase and maintain your own servers.
There’s not much that can be done to prevent these types of outages, since the affected servers are controlled by Microsoft. The best thing you can do is make a plan. For example, do you have phone numbers for important contacts? Do any other systems rely on email (such as your bank requiring an emailed login code), and if so, are there ways to make these systems not rely on email?
Backup email systems do exist. However, they add cost and complexity for a system that’s used a few times a year at most. To some extent, backup email systems also have the same problem as in-house email: what good is it to have email working, when many of the people you need to communicate with can’t use their own email?
Green Mountain IT Solutions is happy to assist. Contact us at support@greenmtnit.com or call 802-489-6948.
