SharePoint Online users experienced search functionality failures where searches returned no results, caused by unexpected traffic spikes and search request queuing that overwhelmed a subset of service infrastructure. Microsoft resolved the issue by redirecting and rebalancing traffic to alternate infrastructure while optimizing search request handling capacity. The incident lasted approximately 523 hours (about 3 weeks) and was resolved after traffic optimization efforts successfully remediated the impact.
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Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We've confirmed through monitoring service health telemetry that our continued efforts to redirect, rebalance, and optimize traffic within the subset of affected infrastructure have successfully remediated impact. We're reaching out to a subset of affected users to conduct additional testing and validate that this issue is resolved.
Scope of impact: Some users performing searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted by this event. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Root cause: An unexpected increase in request traffic and search request queuing is causing a subset of service infrastructure that processes SharePoint Online search requests to enter a suboptimal state, resulting in impact.
Next update by: Monday, May 11, 2026, at 8:00 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: Our efforts to redirect, rebalance, and optimize traffic within the subset of affected infrastructure have been unsuccessful in fully remediating impact. We're assessing our options for applying additional mitigative actions to resolve this issue and will provide a timeline for full remediation as one becomes available.
Scope of impact: Some users performing searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted by this event. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Root cause: An unexpected increase in request traffic and search request queuing is causing a subset of service infrastructure that processes SharePoint Online search requests to enter a suboptimal state, resulting in impact.
Next update by: Friday, May 08, 2026, at 8:00 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We're continuing our efforts to redirect and rebalance traffic within the subset of affected infrastructure while optimizing the amount of new search requests that our service can handle to remediate the impact. We'll monitor the efficacy of these remediation strategies over the next 24 hours, after which we'll reach out to a subset of affected users to validate whether this issue is resolved or additional mitigative actions may be required.
Scope of impact: Some users attempting to perform searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted by this event. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Root cause: An unexpected increase in request traffic and search request queuing is causing a subset of service infrastructure that processes SharePoint Online search requests to enter a suboptimal state, resulting in impact.
Next update by: Thursday, May 07, 2026, at 7:00 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We've determined that multiple concurrent issues, including unexpected spikes in user traffic and an overloaded search request queue, are causing a subset of service infrastructure that processes SharePoint Online search requests to enter an unhealthy state, which is resulting in impact. We're redirecting and rebalancing traffic within the affected infrastructure subset and optimizing the amount of search requests that our service can handle simultaneously to alleviate impact while we continue developing long term remediation solutions.
Scope of impact: Some users attempting to perform searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted by this event. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Root cause: Multiple concurrent issues, including unexpected spikes in traffic and an overloaded search request queue, are causing a subset of service infrastructure that processes SharePoint Online search requests to enter an unhealthy state, which is resulting in impact.
Next update by: Wednesday, May 06, 2026, at 7:30 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: Our telemetry is continuing to show performance recovery. We're reviewing request traffic for the impacted scenarios to isolate where the impact is originating from, which will help us in developing long term solutions to prevent the issue from reoccurring.
Scope of impact: Some users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Next update by: Tuesday, May 05, 2026, at 7:30 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: While our monitoring of telemetry shows recovery, we're analyzing the request traffic which was impacted to determine the root cause of the issue. This data will improve our understanding of the origin of impact and will aid in our development of a solution to prevent this from reoccurring.
Scope of impact: Some users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Next update by: Tuesday, May 05, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: Our investigation into the source of the impact is ongoing as we continue monitoring telemetry to ensure the associated errors are declining after routing a portion of the search requests to alternate infrastructure.
Scope of impact: Some users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Next update by: Monday, May 04, 2026, at 10:00 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We've routed a portion of service requests to alternate infrastructure and confirmed through monitoring service health telemetry that this action has helped reduce the frequency of errors, with continued signs of recovery as the service processes pending requests. We're continuing efforts to isolate the underlying cause of impact while assessing additional remediation actions to resolve the impact in full.
Scope of impact: Some users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Next update by: Monday, May 04, 2026, at 8:00 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We've routed a portion of service requests to alternate infrastructure and confirmed through monitoring service health telemetry that this action has reduced the frequency of errors. While we continue to progress our root cause investigation, we're assessing other potential remediation options so that we can determine how to return the service to expected functionality.
Scope of impact: Some users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may be impacted. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, April 20, 2026, at 12:00 AM UTC
Next update by: Saturday, May 02, 2026, at 11:00 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We've identified potential methods to rebalance traffic across alternate infrastructure and are beginning our efforts to test their efficacy. In parallel, our investigation into the root cause is ongoing.
Scope of impact: Any users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may not receive results. This section may be updated as our investigation continues.
Next update by: Saturday, May 02, 2026, at 7:00 PM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We've identified higher than expected resource usage in the affected environment that is preventing SharePoint Online from providing search results. We're considering methods of rebalancing traffic across alternate infrastructure as a potential means of remediating impact while we investigate the source of this high resource usage.
Scope of impact: Any users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may not receive results.
Next update by: Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 1:30 AM UTC
Title: Some users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online
User impact: Users may not receive results when performing searches in SharePoint Online.
Current status: We've received multiple user reports of users receiving no results when performing searches within SharePoint Online. We're in the process of analyzing service telemetry in conjunction with browser captures provided by affected users to assist in isolating the root cause of impact and determine our next steps.
Scope of impact: Any users attempting searches in SharePoint Online may not receive results.
Next update by: Friday, May 01, 2026, at 11:00 PM UTC
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