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Microsoft (MSFT) was still working into Friday to fully restore access to its workplace software after an outage disrupted users across multiple regions. The effort followed hours of connectivity problems and repeated attempts to return affected infrastructure to stable operation.

The trouble began around midday Thursday and continued as Microsoft worked on the service interruptions for hours. Updates from the company showed that the recovery process was uneven, with progress in some areas followed by renewed problems.

At one point, servers that Microsoft had brought back online became unresponsive again. That reversal complicated the restoration effort as connection traffic returned to systems that had recently resumed operating.

By Friday morning, Microsoft said recovery was continuing across the regions affected by the outage. The company reported broader improvements in North America and sustained improvements throughout much of Europe.

Microsoft also cited encouraging recovery signals in Asia Pacific. Even with those improvements, the company warned that service had not returned to normal for every user or across all affected infrastructure.

"Some users may still experience intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery as mitigation continues across remaining affected infrastructure," Microsoft said in an update posted on X.

The disruption reached several prominent Microsoft services used for workplace communication and productivity. On Thursday afternoon, the company said users of Exchange Online, Outlook, Teams, and Copilot could experience disruptions.

Exchange Online powers the company’s Outlook email service, while Teams provides videoconferencing capabilities. Copilot, Microsoft’s artificial intelligence chatbot, was also among the products identified in the company’s status update.

The potential reach of the outage was not limited to one geographic market. In a separate post on X, Microsoft said users "in any region" could be affected by the connectivity problems.

Microsoft responded by rerouting connection traffic across its global infrastructure. The company also restarted affected servers as it attempted to restore access and stabilize the systems handling returning traffic.

Around 7:05 p.m. ET on Thursday, Microsoft reported that some servers were becoming unresponsive again as traffic returned. The update showed that the outage had not yet been fully stabilized despite earlier restoration work.

Later, Microsoft said it was adding capacity to handle the increased traffic created as more regions came back online. That effort accompanied the continuing work to manage connection traffic and recover the remaining affected infrastructure.

The Friday morning update pointed to meaningful progress, but it also described an active mitigation process. Intermittent access issues and delayed email delivery remained possible while Microsoft continued its work.

Microsoft said its restoration effort was also focused on email queues and backlogs that accumulated during the disruption. The company was validating whether its services were operating consistently across different connection methods.

"Our focus remains on stabilizing recovered infrastructure, completing mitigation in remaining impacted areas, and reducing delayed email queues and backlogs while we validate service consistency across connection methods."

The sequence of updates traced an outage that began Thursday, improved in several regions, and then encountered renewed server problems as traffic returned. Microsoft’s decision to add capacity came as additional regions resumed service and placed more demand on the recovering infrastructure.

By Friday morning, North America, much of Europe, and Asia Pacific were showing varying signs of improvement. Microsoft nevertheless continued warning users about possible access interruptions and email delays while the remaining recovery work proceeded.

The company had not yet described the restoration as fully complete. Its latest update instead emphasized stabilizing recovered systems, finishing mitigation in areas still affected, and addressing delayed messages across its workplace software.

DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.