Email outage hits thousands across Europe

Microsoft Outlook is an email service that millions of individuals use daily to carry out their workplace and personal communication as well as to conduct business transactions. On August 29, 2025, the service experienced an unexpected outage, and many users in Europe could not receive or send emails. Down Detector reports indicated over 600 complaints in the first hour of the outage. The magnitude of the problem soon transformed the view that it was not an isolated case.

Approximately 50% of the affected users complained that they were not getting emails, with almost a third of that group saying that they were unable to send messages. The other group has had server issues that have seen them fully locked out of the platform. In the case of such a central service as Outlook, even several hours of unavailability may spread far and wide.

Microsoft’s Response

Microsoft has also recognized the problem in its official channels of communication. The company reported in a statement about X that it was looking into an outage in Europe that led to a delay in the receipt and delivery of emails. The company addressed users with an instruction to consult the number EX1144276 in the admin center regularly.

The recognition made users feel that the problem was not being ignored, and, on the other hand, it did not help resolve frustrations in the short term. Businesses, professionals, and students who rely on speed of access to email were left waiting without a clear schedule on when they could get full access to the services.

Voices From Users

Most people used social media to share their experiences, as with most large-scale outages. A user posted that they had been experiencing the issue for more than an hour and was happy that it was not isolated to them. Another person bad-temperedly remarked that Outlook was not functioning at all.

Cases were also reported in Turkey where users attested that there was a standstill in email communication. These posts indicate the extent of the disruption, in that it was not only Western Europe but also included users in the surrounding areas. In the case of global companies that have offices in other countries, the downtime resulted in significant communication delays and disruptions to work processes.

A Pattern of Recent Issues

It is not the first occasion that Outlook has gone down in recent months. The same issue affected users in the UK and in the US in July. This was a very disruptive incident because cities such as London, Manchester, Washington, and New York were recording large numbers of complaints. The existence of recurrent issues casts doubts on the reliability of the cloud-based email services of Microsoft.

Although it is impossible to ensure 100% uptime with any given system, recurring outages in a brief period of time may decrease user trust. To most businesses, just a couple of hours of disruption may result in lost productivity and financial losses.

The Broader Impact of Email Outages

The use of email still forms the basis of online communication, even though the concept of instant messaging and work-related chat software is now present. The majority of official communication, invoices, business deals and other business relations remain based on email. The failure of a big service such as Outlook induces effects far beyond the end-user.

Small companies that rely only on Outlook to communicate with customers can experience delays when it comes to taking orders. The teams working in corporations might fail to meet crucial deadlines. Students who are awaiting information on admissions, coursework, or employment applications may also remain in the dark. Even temporary outages can form severe bottlenecks in the modern, fast-paced digital world.

Observing Ahead

In the case of Microsoft, it is time to deal with the technical cause of these problems. The frequent outages will cause harm to the reputation of the company and compel frustrated users to seek alternatives. Such issues can favor competitors such as Google Workspace or other secure mail services in case the problems remain.

Nonetheless, Microsoft Outlook is deeply entrenched in business activities across the globe, and it is highly unlikely that people will abandon it after one time. The most important thing is how Microsoft reacts, corrects the existing problem, and informs its users that measures are being taken to ensure that disruption does not happen again.