In short: confirm that Teams on the web also fails, then move the meeting to a regular phone call and tell guests by phone or text message. Shared files may still open from SharePoint or OneDrive. Do not reinstall Teams or reset passwords.

A Teams outage in three moves

1. Confirm

Teams on the web fails too, and colleagues have the same problem.

2. Move

Take the meeting to the phone. Tell guests by phone or text message.

3. Catch up

When Teams returns, check missed chats and the calendar.

The three moves covered in this guide. Hexafusion IT Solutions.

Confirm that it is an outage

  • Try Teams on the web. Open teams.microsoft.com in a browser. If it fails there too, and colleagues see the same thing, the problem is with the service.
  • Check Service health. Your Microsoft 365 administrator can see incidents in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Health, then Service health.
  • If only the app fails, the problem is local. Closing Teams completely and opening it again is a fair first step.

Move the meeting

  1. Call people. A regular phone call, or a conference call from your phone system, replaces most meetings. Do not rely on the dial-in number in the Teams invitation, because it belongs to the same service.
  2. Tell guests outside the organization by phone or text message. An email may arrive late if Outlook is affected by the same incident.
  3. Reschedule what can wait. A short delay is better than twenty people trying to reconnect.

Chat and files during the outage

  • Chat: messages may fail or arrive late. Send once and do not repeat; use the phone for decisions.
  • Files: files shared in Teams are stored in SharePoint and OneDrive. If those services still work, the files open in a browser. Files that are set to stay on the device open from the OneDrive folder on the computer.
  • Do not reinstall Teams or reset passwords. Neither fixes a service issue.

When Teams returns

  • Read the chats and channel messages you missed, starting with anything addressed to you.
  • Check that today's and tomorrow's meetings are still on the calendar.
  • Put decisions made by phone into the channel, so there is a record.

Prepare a backup in advance

Keep staff and key client phone numbers outside Microsoft 365, agree on one backup way to hold a meeting, and keep the files you cannot work without available offline.

See also: our incident report on the Microsoft 365 outage of November 12, 2026, the Microsoft 365 continuity checklist, and what to do when Outlook is down.

Common questions

How do I know if Microsoft Teams is down?
Open teams.microsoft.com in a browser and ask a colleague. If Teams on the web also fails and others have the same problem, it is a service issue. Your administrator can confirm it under Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Can I use the dial-in number from the Teams invitation?
Do not rely on it during a Teams outage, because it belongs to the same service. Use a regular phone call or a conference call from your phone system.
Can I still open files shared in Teams?
Often, yes. Those files are stored in SharePoint and OneDrive, so they open in a browser if those services work, and files set to stay on the device open from the OneDrive folder.
Should I reinstall Teams?
No. Reinstalling does not fix a service issue.

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