diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/propertyeditors/dropdown/dropdown.controller.js b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/propertyeditors/dropdown/dropdown.controller.js
index a49b477258..4440f97354 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/propertyeditors/dropdown/dropdown.controller.js
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/propertyeditors/dropdown/dropdown.controller.js
@@ -9,36 +9,53 @@ angular.module("umbraco").controller("Umbraco.PropertyEditors.DropdownController
 
         //map the user config
         angular.extend(config, $scope.model.config);
+
         //map back to the model
         $scope.model.config = config;
         
-        if (angular.isArray($scope.model.config.items)) {
-
-            //ensure the items are sorted by the provided sort order
-            $scope.model.config.items.sort(function (a, b) { return (a.sortOrder > b.sortOrder) ? 1 : ((b.sortOrder > a.sortOrder) ? -1 : 0); });
+        function convertArrayToDictionaryArray(model){
+            //now we need to format the items in the dictionary because we always want to have an array
+            var newItems = [];
+            for (var i = 0; i < model.length; i++) {
+                newItems.push({ id: model[i], sortOrder: 0, value: model[i] });
+            }
 
+            return newItems;
         }
-        else if (angular.isObject($scope.model.config.items)) {
 
+
+        function convertObjectToDictionaryArray(model){
             //now we need to format the items in the dictionary because we always want to have an array
             var newItems = [];
             var vals = _.values($scope.model.config.items);
             var keys = _.keys($scope.model.config.items);
+
             for (var i = 0; i < vals.length; i++) {
                 var label = vals[i].value ? vals[i].value : vals[i]; 
                 newItems.push({ id: keys[i], sortOrder: vals[i].sortOrder, value: label });
             }
 
-            //ensure the items are sorted by the provided sort order
-            newItems.sort(function (a, b) { return (a.sortOrder > b.sortOrder) ? 1 : ((b.sortOrder > a.sortOrder) ? -1 : 0); });
+            return newItems;
+        }
 
-            //re-assign
-            $scope.model.config.items = newItems;
+        if (angular.isArray($scope.model.config.items)) {
+            //PP: I dont think this will happen, but we have tests that expect it to happen..
+            //if array is simple values, convert to array of objects
+            if(!angular.isObject($scope.model.config.items[0])){
+                $scope.model.config.items = convertArrayToDictionaryArray($scope.model.config.items);
+            }
+        }
+        else if (angular.isObject($scope.model.config.items)) {
+            $scope.model.config.items = convertObjectToDictionaryArray($scope.model.config.items);
         }
         else {
             throw "The items property must be either an array or a dictionary";
         }
         
+
+        //sort the values
+        $scope.model.config.items.sort(function (a, b) { return (a.sortOrder > b.sortOrder) ? 1 : ((b.sortOrder > a.sortOrder) ? -1 : 0); });
+
         //now we need to check if the value is null/undefined, if it is we need to set it to "" so that any value that is set
         // to "" gets selected by default
         if ($scope.model.value === null || $scope.model.value === undefined) {
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/test/unit/app/propertyeditors/dropdown-controller.spec.js b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/test/unit/app/propertyeditors/dropdown-controller.spec.js
index f0c82f6b6b..4055e2d181 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/test/unit/app/propertyeditors/dropdown-controller.spec.js
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/test/unit/app/propertyeditors/dropdown-controller.spec.js
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ describe('Drop down controller tests', function () {
             expect(scope.model.config.items).toBeDefined();
             expect(scope.model.config.multiple).toBeDefined();
         });
-        
+    
         it("should convert simple array to dictionary", function () {
             
             scope.model = {
@@ -37,12 +37,13 @@ describe('Drop down controller tests', function () {
                 $routeParams: routeParams
             });
              
-            expect(scope.model.config.items["value0"]).toBe("value0");
-            expect(scope.model.config.items["value1"]).toBe("value1");
-            expect(scope.model.config.items["value2"]).toBe("value2");
-            
+            //this should be the expected format based on the changes made to the sortable prevalues
+            expect(scope.model.config.items[0].value).toBe("value0");
+            expect(scope.model.config.items[1].value).toBe("value1");
+            expect(scope.model.config.items[2].value).toBe("value2"); 
         });
         
+
         it("should allow an existing valid dictionary", function () {
 
             scope.model = {