[whpalmer4]

You're in Project mode if you have a list of projects and folders on the left. That will only sort based on the properties of the containing projects, not the individual actions. If you had three projects in view, each project having a different due date, it would rearrange the view to show the project with the earliest due date first, and the project with the latest due date last. It won't alter the display of the order of the tasks inside the projects.

However, if you select the contents of that project of yours and use the Edit->Sort function I mentioned, it will permanently rearrange them into the specified order, just as if you had individually dragged them around. Note that this changes the order of the actions in the project, and you probably don't want to do it if you have a sequential project.

If you select the single action list in the sidebar and hit the Focus button in the toolbar, then switch to context mode via View->Context Mode (do not push the button labeled "Contexts" in your toolbar!) you will see only the tasks from that project you focused on, and if you change the view options here, it will sort the view on an action by action basis. Click on the Show All button (which has replaced the Focus button) to get back to seeing everything rather than just what was focused upon.