3 Nov. 2011
I've never tried to download a gedcom from Ancestry and then load it into PAF, but from what you've described, it sounds like the file format that you're seeing is correct. A gedcom is a text file and can be viewed and edited in programs such as MS Notepad or Wordpad.
So try this: same using the .txt option to save the file and then look at it in a text editing program such as Notepad. If the formatting and structure of the file seems to be correct, then change the .txt extension to .ged, i.e. my_gedcom.txt to my_gedcom.ged With the extension changed, try importing the file.
Saving your gedcom in either of the two other forms that you mentioned in your post will give you a file that is unusable. But starting with a text file should work.
Dave