Outlook / Hotmail

Is Outlook / Hotmail down? Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail) is Microsoft's web-based email service, with Hotmail being one of the first free web-based email services ever launched — founded in 1996 and acquired by Microsoft in 1997. Rebranded through various iterations including MSN Hotmail and Windows Live Hotmail before settling on Outlook.com in 2012, the service has over 400 million active users. For consumer users, outlook.com, hotmail.com, and live.com email addresses access the same underlying service. Microsoft Outlook as a desktop application is the standard email client for the majority of enterprise users globally, often connecting to Exchange or Microsoft 365 business accounts.

Outlook's enterprise significance is enormous: Microsoft Exchange — the backend email server product — and its cloud version Microsoft 365 Exchange Online power email for hundreds of millions of business users globally. The Outlook client on Windows is the most widely used business email application in the world, managing calendar, contacts, and tasks alongside email in a single unified client. Outlook's deep integration with Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive makes it the centre of the Microsoft 365 collaboration ecosystem.

Outlook outages affect both consumer email users and the business users who depend on Exchange Online for corporate email. Common symptoms include Outlook failing to sync new messages, calendar invitations not delivering, attachment downloads failing, or the Outlook mobile app requiring repeated sign-in. Microsoft 365 email disruptions generate immediate support tickets across thousands of enterprise IT departments, as email downtime is among the most business-critical technology failures.

If Outlook and Microsoft email is down, Outage.gg tracks Outlook and Microsoft email server status and outage history in real time. If Outlook is down or email is not syncing, visit the live status page for community reports and subscribe for an instant notification when service is restored.