Worldwide outages for Google’s Gmail for workplaces inspire frustration, relief

Gmail experienced service disruptions and outages Wednesday, causing issues in workplaces that use Google’s system for email, document storage and messaging.

Issues accessing Gmail appeared to mostly be limited to the systems set up for use by workplaces, and not personal accounts used by many individuals.

Outage maps showed outages and disruptions throughout the United States and parts of Western Europe.

According to Google, disruptions in service began at roughly 10:15 a.m. Central time and continued throughout the morning and afternoon.

As of 3 p.m., the company offered its most recent update on its Google Apps website:

“Gmail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future,” a post read. “Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change. Delivery of messages sent to affected users during the issue may be delayed.”

Although the Gmail system is used by many media and content-producing companies, including The Kansas City Star, representatives from more than a dozen local businesses said their companies did not use Google systems, and thus were unaffected by the outage.

Those affected were frustrated, to put it mildly:

Others felt a strange sense of...relief:

While Google reportedly worked on fixing the glitch, the internet widely shared a solution that seemed to work for many: having a system administrator log on to the main console, click Apps and turn the Gmail function on or off.

Nothing like a quick reboot to solve a problem.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Worldwide outages for Google’s Gmail for workplaces inspire frustration, relief."