"We’ve confirmed service health has returned to normal": Microsoft 365 and Outlook are back up and running

Reports spiked before 5 AM ET and key Microsoft services remain unavailable. (Image credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images)

Recent updates

April 28, 2026 @ 7:56 AM ET: Microsoft confirmed that its services have returned to normal.

Microsoft 365 and Outlook are down. Microsoft confirmed the outage today and has shared a couple of updates on the official Microsoft 365 Status account on X.

Downdetector also shows a spike in outages and issues that began around 4:50 AM ET. Outlook, Microsoft 365, and other Microsoft web experiences all seem to be affected.

It's not clear at this time how widespread the outages are or how many people are experiencing issues.

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The timing of the issues is poor, since many are starting their work at the moment and are unable to use essential services such as Teams or Outlook.

Below are the most recent X posts about the outage, including an update clarify that things are improving and that Microsoft is monitoring the situation to "ensure the service fully recovers."

We're investigating an issue where users may be experiencing intermittent issues accessing https://t.co/ZUfyjth6sU. For more information, please visit https://t.co/uSHwRmXFJZ.April 27, 2026

Upon reviewing service telemetry further, we've identified an unexpected increase in error rates affecting two separate error scenarios. We suspect this may be contributing to creating impact, and we're conducting additional analysis to confirm this. For more information, please…April 27, 2026

We've completed the roll back and are monitoring service health while we continue to look for additional mitigation paths. For more information, please visit https://t.co/Htn4qQDPCR.April 27, 2026

We’ve confirmed service health has returned to normal and reporting users that have completed the additional steps are able to access Outlook and Hotmail. For the list of mitigation steps and more information, please review the attached screenshot or visit… pic.twitter.com/YHp86VTOYDApril 27, 2026

This is an ongoing news story and we will update this piece as more information becomes available. Microsoft also has a status page that is updated regularly.

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Sean Endicott is a News Writer at Windows Central, where he covers Windows 11, Surface hardware, Microsoft 365, AI, apps, and the broader PC ecosystem. Since joining the site in 2017, he has written well over a thousand articles across the Microsoft landscape, covering breaking news, analysis, and feature reporting.

He writes Windows Wrap, a weekly column covering the biggest stories in Windows and the PC industry, and what they mean for the platform going forward.

Before joining Windows Central full-time, Sean worked in journalism and media production after earning a First Class degree in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University. Outside of tech, he is an award-winning American football coach based in Nottingham, England, and was named BAFCA Youth Coach of the Year in 2024.