[whpalmer4]

In planning mode, the view bar sort sorts projects, not actions. In context mode, it sorts actions. In either case, it only sorts the view, not the order of the data (important for sequential projects but somewhat less so for a single action list). As you discovered, to actually change the ordering of actions in the planning mode, you need to use Edit->Sort. One way to think of the difference is to consider the case of two side-by-side windows in planning mode. Changing the view settings for one does not affect the other window, but editing one with Edit->Sort or by hand will change both windows.