Outlook down? Microsoft confirms issues with email service, but a fix is now here

2 weeks ago 9

If you logged in for work this morning and found you couldn't access your emails - don't worry, it wasn't just you - Microsoft Outlook had a major blip today.

Thousands of users across the world reported issues with the email service, with complaints of failed launches, memory-intensive running and more.

Microsoft has found a solution, and is urging users to refresh or restart their Outlook instance - you can read all the advice below...

Refresh

2024-10-10T18:08:06.294Z

Initial feedback looks good, and outage reports on DownDetector are falling, so this could well be the end of the Outlook outage - if you're still having trouble, drop us a line on [email protected] - we'll stay vigilant for a little while longer to see if anything else happens!

2024-10-10T18:07:02.036Z

We have a fix! Microsoft has confirmed it has a solution, and users should restart or refresh their Outlook sessions - hopefully this works.

We've applied a config change and telemetry confirmed we've mitigated impact. Users should refresh/restart their Outlook sessions. For more information, see MO907654 within the admin center.October 10, 2024

2024-10-10T17:29:47.758Z

We may finally have a breakthrough!

Microsoft says it is about to roll out a possible solution, having hopefully identified the issue - let's see how this goes....

We’re working on a potential solution and are preparing to apply a targeted configuration update that we suspect will alleviate the impact. For more information, see MO907654 within the admin center.October 10, 2024

2024-10-10T16:50:28.792Z

However it seems like Microsoft itself is still struggling to find a concrete fix, with its latest tweet saying it is "focused" on trying to find out what has gone wrong....

We're focused on isolating the source of a potential memory management issue which may be responsible for causing impact. We're working with organizations and are replicating the issue internally to develop a mitigation. For more information, see MO907654 within the admin center.October 10, 2024

2024-10-10T16:49:08.802Z

The end may be in sight - we're seeing a slight drop in reports, and over on Twitter, the complaints are dwindling for sure...

2024-10-10T16:00:35.601Z

Reports have now topped the 2,000 marker, which means it is continuing to grow - we're still waiting on the latest update from Microsoft though...

2024-10-10T15:53:25.784Z

The issue was initially thought to only affect users in Europe (with Microsoft's own tweet even stating this) - but as this DownDetector heat map shows, it is now spreading across the US, as people log in to work for the day.

2024-10-10T15:47:05.086Z

Microsoft has acknowledged the issue, saying it is attempting to replicate it internally in order to find out more...

We've identified a potential memory management issue which may be responsible for causing impact. We're obtaining memory dumps and logs from Outlook client telemetry data for analysis to determine our next steps. For more information, see MO907654 within the admin center.October 10, 2024

2024-10-10T15:45:52.821Z

Users began reporting issues with Microsoft Outlook around 9am ET, with reports rising as more and more people log on for work.

The latest figures from outage tracking site DownDetector show a sharp spike in reports throughout the day.