In this guide · 7 sections
Short answer
Set up service health email alerts for two admins, agree a fallback channel such as WhatsApp or phone, keep key files available offline, and bookmark status.cloud.microsoft for when the admin centre is down. Microsoft's SLA pays service credits only on request, so note the incident ID and times.
What happened on 23 July 2026
Microsoft's Azure post-incident review (tracking ID ZJV6-SGG) says that between 14:44 and 19:41 UTC on 23 July 2026, some customers had connectivity failures and latency reaching services in the West US region. A repair on one network device removed routes from more devices than intended, so traffic entering or leaving the region failed. Microsoft says downstream impact on Microsoft 365 was communicated under incident MO1437424.
On its Microsoft 365 Status account on X, Microsoft said it had reverted a networking update and confirmed through telemetry and customer reports that the issue was resolved. Affected services reported at the time included OneDrive, SharePoint Online, Teams chat, the Microsoft 365 admin centre, Power Automate, Copilot Chat and Loop.
During the outage, Microsoft's status updates advised customers to review their business continuity and disaster recovery plans. That is the useful lesson for small offices: the cloud is reliable, but not perfectly so, and a plan costs very little.
Step 1: know about an outage before staff tell you
Microsoft's guide to service health explains where incidents show up and how to be alerted.
Open Service health in the admin centre
Go to admin.microsoft.com, then Health, then Service health. The Overview tab shows active incidents and advisories; Issue history keeps the last 7 or 30 days.
Turn on email notifications
Choose Customize, then Email, and tick 'Send me email notifications about service health'. Pick incidents and advisories and the services you use. Each admin can add up to two addresses.
Send alerts to a non-Microsoft address too
If Exchange Online is down, an alert sent only to your Microsoft 365 mailbox may not arrive. Add a personal or secondary address as the second recipient.
Install the Microsoft 365 Admin app
Microsoft suggests the mobile admin app for push notifications about service health.
Bookmark the public status page
If you cannot sign in to the admin centre, Microsoft points to status.cloud.microsoft and its @MSFT365Status account on X.
Staff with the Service Support admin or Helpdesk admin role can also view service health, so you do not need to hand out Global admin rights for this.
Step 2: agree a fallback channel
When Teams and Outlook stop working at the same time, people waste the first hour asking each other whether it is just them. Decide now how the office talks during an outage.
| If this is down | Use instead | Prepare now |
|---|---|---|
| Teams chat and meetings | A WhatsApp or Signal staff group, or phone | Group created, everyone added, purpose agreed |
| Outlook and Exchange email | Phone and WhatsApp to key customers; webmail if only the app fails | Phone list of top customers and suppliers kept outside Microsoft 365 |
| SharePoint and OneDrive | Files already synced to laptops | Key folders set to 'Always keep on this device' |
| Sign-in itself | Cached desktop apps keep working for a while | Break-glass admin account tested; status page bookmarked |
Keep the plan short and in two places: a printed page at the front desk and a note in each manager's phone. Our IT business continuity plan template has a fuller version.
Step 3: keep key files available offline
Files that only exist in SharePoint or OneDrive in the browser are unreachable when the service is unreachable. Files synced with the OneDrive app and marked to keep on the device stay usable; changes sync once the service is back.
Offline readiness checklist
Sync is not backup: a deleted or encrypted file syncs too. For real restore points, see our guide to backing up Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Step 4: SLA credits after an outage
Microsoft's Online Services SLA (October 2026 edition) sets a monthly uptime target for each service. Credits are a percentage of that service's monthly fee, not compensation for lost business.
| Monthly uptime | Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Teams credit |
|---|---|
| Below 99.9% | 25% |
| Below 99% | 50% |
| Below 95% | 100% |
Downtime is counted in user-minutes, so a few hours affecting some users may not push your month below 99.9%. Claims go to Microsoft support with a description, times, affected users and errors, and must arrive by the end of the month after the incident. Our 99.9% uptime explainer shows what each percentage means in minutes.
Do it yourself or get help?
Alerts, a WhatsApp group and offline folders are an afternoon's work for whoever manages your Microsoft 365. The harder parts are a backup you can actually restore from, and a written plan that covers outages, ransomware and lost laptops together.
Our Backup & Ransomware Recovery (S$290) sets up Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace backup with a retention plan, tests a restore with proof and gives you a one-page recovery guide. Our Incident & Ransomware Response Plan (S$390) adds playbooks, a contact sheet and a 30-minute tabletop exercise pack. IT Sorted is a Singapore-based team of developers with over 10 years of experience; you pay upfront, send the brief in writing and follow progress on your order page.
Frequently asked questions
Microsoft's Azure post-incident review says a repair on a network device in the West US region removed routes from more devices than intended, breaking traffic into and out of the region between 14:44 and 19:41 UTC on 23 July 2026. Microsoft tracked the Microsoft 365 impact as MO1437424 and resolved it by reverting the networking change.
Check Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, which lists active incidents and advisories. If you cannot sign in, Microsoft points to status.cloud.microsoft and its Microsoft 365 Status account on X. Set up service health email notifications so admins hear about incidents before staff start reporting problems.
You may be eligible for a service credit, not a refund. For Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Teams, the SLA gives 25% of the monthly fee below 99.9% uptime, 50% below 99% and 100% below 95%. Uptime is measured in user-minutes, and you must submit a claim by the end of the following month.
Yes, if they are synced with the OneDrive app and stored on the device. Files marked 'Always keep on this device' open without a connection, and changes sync when the service returns. Files that are online-only, or that you only open in a browser, are not available while the service is unreachable.
Usually not. Every cloud provider has outages, including Google. A few hours of disruption a year is easier to manage with a simple continuity plan than by migrating. Focus on alerts, a fallback channel, offline copies and a proper backup instead.