If you’re trying to access SharePoint Online sites today and seeing frustrating error messages like “Something went wrong,” you’re not alone. Microsoft has confirmed they are investigating an ongoing issue affecting users trying to access their cloud-based document and collaboration platform.
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The core problem seems to be linked to authentication, essentially how the service confirms you are who you say you are. While Microsoft is working on a fix, they’ve shared a simple trick that might help you get back to work sooner.
What is SharePoint Online?
For many businesses and schools, SharePoint Online is a key tool within the Microsoft 365 suite. Think of it as a secure, online hub where teams can store, share, and work together on documents and information. It helps keep projects organized and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
What Kind of Problems Are Users Seeing?
The main complaint users are experiencing is being unable to open SharePoint Online sites. Instead of seeing their files and content, they are greeted with an unhelpful “Something went wrong” error message. This effectively blocks access to crucial documents and collaboration spaces for affected users.
Microsoft is Investigating
Microsoft first acknowledged the issue early today (UTC time) and has been actively investigating the root cause. Their latest updates suggest they’ve found a strong suspect: a specific type of authentication-related cookie.
Cookies are small pieces of data websites use to remember things about you, like being logged in. In this case, it seems a particular cookie might be causing a hiccup in the process that verifies your identity, leading to those pesky access errors (technically, often showing as a 503 error).
Microsoft is currently working to confirm if this cookie problem is indeed the culprit so they can figure out the best way to fix it for everyone. The impact appears to be specific to certain users connected through affected infrastructure.
Microsoft SharePoint logo visual representing the online cloud service experiencing access issues
A Potential Workaround: Try Incognito Mode
While the engineers are busy behind the scenes, Microsoft has suggested a temporary fix that might work for some users: try accessing SharePoint Online using your browser’s incognito or private browsing mode.
Why might this work? Incognito mode typically doesn’t use the cookies stored from your regular browsing sessions. If the problem is related to a specific troublesome cookie, accessing the site without that cookie might bypass the issue and let you log in successfully.
For Microsoft Edge users, this is called InPrivate browsing. For Chrome, it’s Incognito mode, and for Firefox and Safari, it’s Private Browsing. It’s a quick thing to try if you’re currently locked out.
How Serious Is This?
Microsoft has categorized this situation as an ‘incident’. In Microsoft’s system, this tag is usually reserved for service issues that are causing a noticeable impact on users, indicating it’s more than just a minor glitch.
The company hasn’t yet specified exactly which regions or how many users are affected, but tagging it as an incident confirms it’s a significant problem they are prioritizing.
Not the First Time Microsoft 365 Services Have Faced Issues
While frustrating, service interruptions aren’t uncommon for large cloud platforms. Microsoft 365 services, including SharePoint Online, have experienced issues before. Earlier this year, SharePoint Online users saw delays or failures during searches, and another incident affected autosave features when opening files from SharePoint or OneDrive in File Explorer. Even this week, Microsoft addressed a separate issue impacting the delivery of one-time passcodes for Exchange Online users.
These past events highlight the complexity of managing massive global cloud infrastructure and the potential for disruptions, even from something seemingly small like a specific cookie.
Staying Updated
Microsoft’s teams are actively working to pinpoint the root cause and roll out a permanent fix. If you are affected, keeping an eye on your Microsoft 365 admin center (if you have access) or waiting for further updates from Microsoft is the best course of action while trying the incognito mode workaround.
Experiencing these issues can be disruptive, but hopefully, the suggested workaround provides temporary relief until Microsoft resolves the underlying problem.
