Microsoft Outlook Endures 11-Hour Global Outage Before Gradual Recovery
Microsoft’s flagship email platform went dark just after 6:20 p.m. ET on July 9, locking users out of Outlook.com, mobile apps, and desktop clients in one of the service’s longest disruptions in recent memory. Error banners ranging from “license expired” to generic server messages spread quickly across DownDetector and social media as mailbox authentication failed in every major region.
After more than 11 hours of scrambling, Microsoft 365 Status said it had isolated a mis-configured mailbox-infrastructure setting, rolled out a fix, and expected “most impacted users” to regain access within two hours. Live telemetry showed pockets of relief by mid-afternoon, though some customers reported lingering delays in message sync and search indexing as the company throttled traffic to stabilize servers.
The outage highlights Outlook’s central role despite competition from Apple Mail and Gmail; analytics firm Litmus ranks Microsoft’s client third by global share, yet it remains critical for countless enterprises tied into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The lapse follows smaller incidents in March and adds fresh scrutiny as regulators probe cloud-service resilience after last year’s CrowdStrike-triggered meltdown.
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