diff --git a/sway/criteria.c b/sway/criteria.c
index 78ea8b8a..484378c2 100644
--- a/sway/criteria.c
+++ b/sway/criteria.c
@@ -159,6 +159,31 @@ static bool has_container_criteria(struct criteria *criteria) {
 
 static bool criteria_matches_container(struct criteria *criteria,
 		struct sway_container *container) {
+	struct sway_seat *seat = input_manager_current_seat();
+	struct sway_container *focus = seat_get_focused_container(seat);
+	struct sway_view *focused = focus ? focus->view : NULL;
+
+	if (criteria->workspace) {
+		struct sway_workspace *ws = container->pending.workspace;
+		if (!ws) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		switch (criteria->workspace->match_type) {
+		case PATTERN_FOCUSED:
+			if (focused &&
+					strcmp(ws->name, focused->container->pending.workspace->name)) {
+				return false;
+			}
+			break;
+		case PATTERN_PCRE2:
+			if (regex_cmp(ws->name, criteria->workspace->regex) < 0) {
+				return false;
+			}
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
 	if (criteria->con_mark) {
 		bool exists = false;
 		struct sway_container *con = container;
@@ -358,27 +383,6 @@ static bool criteria_matches_view(struct criteria *criteria,
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (criteria->workspace) {
-		struct sway_workspace *ws = view->container->pending.workspace;
-		if (!ws) {
-			return false;
-		}
-
-		switch (criteria->workspace->match_type) {
-		case PATTERN_FOCUSED:
-			if (focused &&
-					strcmp(ws->name, focused->container->pending.workspace->name)) {
-				return false;
-			}
-			break;
-		case PATTERN_PCRE2:
-			if (regex_cmp(ws->name, criteria->workspace->regex) < 0) {
-				return false;
-			}
-			break;
-		}
-	}
-
 	if (criteria->pid) {
 		if (criteria->pid != view->pid) {
 			return false;
diff --git a/sway/sway.5.scd b/sway/sway.5.scd
index 7e58b528..7146db84 100644
--- a/sway/sway.5.scd
+++ b/sway/sway.5.scd
@@ -1031,7 +1031,7 @@ The following attributes may be matched with:
 	applications and requires XWayland.
 
 *workspace*
-	Compare against the workspace name for this view. Can be a regular
+	Compare against the workspace name for this container. Can be a regular
 	expression. If the value is \_\_focused\_\_, then all the views on the
 	currently focused workspace matches.