The message is sent from WinSetWindowPos, WinSetMultWindowPos, and WinScrollWindow.

The message is sent to any window when it is moved relative to its parent window. In addition, a WM_MOVE message is also sent to any children of that window that have style CS_MOVENOTIFY.

The new position of the window is obtained by calling WinQueryWindowRect, and can make those rectangle coordinates relative to any window by calling WinMapWindowPoints.

Note: There are several instances where windows have cause to know if they have been moved, and these include the occasions when the window does not change position relative to its parent, but does change position relative to the screen (its absolute position).

An example is menus. When a top-level menu control (child of the frame window) moves its absolute position as a result of the frame window being moved, the top-level menu control causes the movement of any pull-down menus along with its movement. The same applies to application/dialog box positional grouping. In some instances, a dialog box might cause to be moved as the main window is moved, to make room for other applications.