Is Outlook down again? Repeat outages test users' patience as Microsoft scrambles for a fix; Here's what cos says

Outlook has one job: keep the world’s emails flowing. But since around 10:20 PM UTC on 9 July (3:50 AM IST, 10 July), that flow has turned into a trickle, or stopped altogether. According to Microsoft’s own Service Health dashboard, “users may be unable to access their mailbox using any connection methods.”

What this really means is that whether you’re on web, mobile or the old desktop app, you’re stuck staring at an error page or a stubborn loading circle. Many get the blunt message: “Something went wrong.” Some see ‘invalid licences’. Neither helps.

Who’s locked out?
DownDetector, which tracks outages by the minute, says over 60% of complaints point to login failures. A third can’t connect to servers at all. A handful can log in but can’t send a single mail.

This isn’t localised pain either. People in New York, Washington, Dallas, India, Germany, the UK—everyone’s in the same boat. Some lucky few who squeeze in say it’s so sluggish it might as well be down.

Microsoft’s response: A trickling tap
Microsoft hasn’t exactly showered the world with clarity. On X (formerly Twitter), the Microsoft 365 Status account did confirm it’s real and not your Wi-Fi. Engineers are “actively investigating” what they diplomatically call “underperforming mailbox infrastructure.” They suspect it’s an authentication component gone rogue.

Here’s Microsoft’s line so far, “We’ve determined that a portion of mailbox infrastructure isn’t performing as efficiently as expected… We’ve determined the cause of the issue and have started deployment of a fix.”

A later update tried to calm nerves, “Our deployment of the fix is progressing quicker than anticipated and we expect impact to gradually mitigate as it progresses.”

The silence isn’t helping
The timeline? Fuzzy at best. Microsoft has given no clear ETA. A final update time of 10:30 AM UTC today was floated but with cautious optimism. Until then, many have taken to X to ask: Where’s my email?

One user summed it up: “Came all the way to X to find why Outlook.com service was failing. There was NOTHING there to tell me.”

Another vented: “#Outlook seems to be down this morning — I’m unable to access any emails. Is there any information on when the service will be available again?”

Is this a hack? Probably not
Rumours always swirl when a giant like Outlook falls. Some wonder if this is a cyberattack. The facts point elsewhere. Microsoft hasn’t hinted at a breach—only a busted piece of mailbox plumbing.

Still, this isn’t the first time Outlook’s been caught snoozing. Last month, a Forms Library glitch brought Outlook to its knees. In March, an eight-day blackout locked out iOS users trying to get mail through Apple Mail. That’s not a great record for a service holding the keys to millions of inboxes.

If there’s one thing this fiasco highlights, it’s how dependent we’ve become on a single piece of email infrastructure. When Outlook chokes, businesses stall. Meetings miss invites. Deals hang in limbo. Students miss deadlines. And Microsoft’s slow trickle of updates makes the waiting feel longer.

For now, Microsoft says other services—Teams, Skype, Word, Excel—are mostly fine. That’s cold comfort when you can’t even send a basic email.

Honestly? You wait. That’s the sum of it. Keep an eye on Microsoft’s status page if you like cryptic progress notes. Maybe check X to see everyone else’s misery in real time.

At the end of the day, this is a reminder: even the biggest tech giants drop the ball. And when they do, you realise just how much you rely on them to get through a normal day.