I had an pre-existing set of priorities:

1-RED
2-ORANGE
3-YELLOW
4-GREEN
5-PURP
6-(notset)

I added a different set of priorites (for a different project):

1-Must Have
2-Needs
3-Wants

Priority was not a required entry for my new project.

I added a set of tasks to my new project, some of which had a blank priority.

When I sorted on Priority, my blank ones came to the top (duh).  I didn't like this, so I used Multi-edit and set them all to the pre-existing priority '6-(notset)'  thinking that would surely put them at the bottom - but it didn't.   (See attached screen shot).   I would think that the sort would be on the alpha represetation of what is displayed in the column.  Instead it seems to be on an underlying code value.

So I added a new priority:

9-(not established), changed all the '6-(notset)' to '9-(not established)' -- and that would sort fine.

So either

a) I'm right that you are sorting on an underlying code

• It's a 'feature'
• It's a bug

Or
b)I'm wrong about why its doing that, but its still undesirable.

Or,
c)I don't understand what is going on.

Is this the built-in Priority field or a custom field? 

The built-in Priority field (which is only in Defects and Features) sorts by the order defined when you define the priorities, not alphabetically.  You can re-order it alphabetically in the Manage List Types list.

A pick list custom field sorts alphabetically on the defects list.

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Dragan Marceta
www.Axosoft.com

This may be related (maybe not). 

Under Tasks, I'm using the Category to group project items.  I created category fields such as 00 Planning, 01 Design, 02 Training, etc.  Sorting of the category fields does not work, either when I click the "Category" heading or when I use the Multi-Sort function.  

The items are not being sorted in any manner (e.g. 2 '00 Plan' items, then a '03 Training' item, then another '00 Plan' Item, etc.). 

Categories are also sorted as defined in the Manage List Types window.  You can resort the categories there.

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Dragan Marceta
www.Axosoft.com