Check the Outlook.com Service Status

Is Microsoft aware that Outlook.com has been down for hours? Are they working on a fix? Using Microsoft's service status page linked below, you can find out if Microsoft is having troubles with Outlook.com, in which case it isn't your problem, or if nothing is wrong on their side, in which case you can be confident that the issue rests with your own network, web browser, or Internet Service Provider.

Visit the Office 365 Service Status page to see the service of Outlook.com. If on that page you see a green checkmark next to Outlook.com, it means that from Microsoft's perspective, nothing is abnormal with the Outlook.com service.

If the webpage instead displays a red or yellow symbol next to Outlook.com, Microsoft is currently experiencing an issue and is aware of the problem.

Another way to see if the Outlook.com website is down is to use another web service like Down For Everyone Or Just Me or Down Detector. If those websites show that Outlook.com is down after entering the web address, chances are it's down for everyone or a vast majority of users, in which case you will have to wait for Microsoft to fix the issue.

Microsoft has been rebranding its email service since it was first launched in 1997 as MSN Hotmail. If your email currently ends with @msn.com, @live.com, or @hotmail.com, then your email runs on the same platform as Outlook.com. If your Hotmail account is down, be sure to check for Outlook.com's current status as noted above in this article.

If Outlook.com is up and running just fine on Microsoft's side, it means that there's a problem accessing it from your side, which might be due to your own computer, network, or service provider.

If you see a green checkmark on the service status page but you're still having problems with your mail, there are a few things you should try in order to get Outlook.com working again:

1. Close down and reopen your web browser.
2. Clear the browser cache.
3. Restart your computer.
4. Flush the DNS cache.
5. Restart your router.

If after performing those steps with your web browser, computer, and network, Outlook.com is still down, the only other assumption that can be made is that your internet service provider isn't letting you access the website. Call your ISP to check if their other subscribers are having similar issues.