💡 Our Technical Review in summary
Exchange Online is experiencing an issue where meeting invitations are not being automatically declined, despite users having the “auto-decline” feature enabled within their automatic reply (Out of Office) settings. This degradation was caused by a latent code issue triggered by a recent service configuration update.
Users who have configured their automatic replies to automatically decline incoming meeting invites will find that these invitations are still being delivered to their inboxes and calendars. This requires users to manually manage invitations that should have been rejected by the system.
Service Degradation: Microsoft has identified the root cause and is currently rolling out a code fix. The fix is expected to be fully deployed and in effect by the next scheduled update on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
Microsoft Official Issue Details
User Impact
Users’ auto-decline meeting settings for automatic replies may not be working in Exchange Online.
Status: serviceDegradation
Service: Exchange Online
Classification: advisory
Origin: microsoft
Updates
- 2026-02-24 02:23
Title: Users’ auto-decline meeting settings for automatic replies may not be working in Exchange OnlineUser impact: Users’ auto-decline meeting settings for automatic replies may not be working in Exchange Online.
Current status: We’ve identified through internal monitoring that users’ auto-decline meeting settings may be failing to apply, resulting in users’ incoming meeting invites not being auto-declined as expected due to a latent code issue triggered by a recent service configuration update. We’re working to roll out a code fix that we anticipate should be in effect by our next scheduled update.
Scope of impact: Users with automatic replies set up to auto-decline meeting invites in Exchange Online may be impacted. This information may be updated as our investigation continues.
Start time: Monday, February 23, 2026, at 8:00 AM UTC
Root cause: A latent code issue triggered by a recent service configuration update is resulting in impact.
Next update by: Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at 12:30 AM UTC
- 2026-02-24 02:10
Title: Users’ auto-decline meeting settings for automatic replies may not be working in Exchange OnlineUser impact: Users’ auto-decline meeting settings for automatic replies may not be working in Exchange Online.
Current status: We’re investigating a potential issue with Exchange Online and checking for impact to your organization. We’ll provide an update within 30 minutes.
