This question relates to Umbraco CMS version 6.1.4.
I create a new Document Type and some generic properties for it.
I am able to arrange the properties in the properties editor:
But it makes no difference in the Content section.
Umbraco, Y U NO sort my attributes?
It was a bug. One that I fixed at the UK Hackathon at the end of last year. The generic properties tab wasn't honouring the order of the generic properties. You can see more details on the Umbraco issue tracker here
If you upgrade to 6.2, the issue should be fixed.