Microsoft Confirms Hotmail And Outlook Problems

Microsoft has confirmed that its Outlook and Hotmail webmail services have been affected by a fault that has prevented some users from having full access to their mail.

Users have complained about not seeing emails that should have reached their account while others have said they have not been able to access either service altogether.

The fault was first reported on Tuesday evening with Microsoft admitting the problem in a post on its service status page earlier this morning. In it, the company apologised for the interruption in service and said that fixing the problem had taken longer than expected.

Hot and cold mail

Both Outlook and Hotmail services were shown to be affected, with Microsoft posting another message at 13:12 GMT this afternoon to update users on the situation.

“We’re having a problem accessing email,” it read. “You might not be able to see all your email messages. We’re working to restore service right now.”

Microsoft has given no explanation for the fault and it is not clear how many users it has affected. At the time of writing, the status page reports no problems and TechWeekEurope was able to send and receive email using an Outlook account.

Millions of Hotmail users are currently being migrated to the new Outlook webmail service. Launched last year, Outlook was designed to offer a cleaner, smoother experience than Hotmail and other clients. Most changes are aesthetic, with a cleaner interface and less intrusive advertising.

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