Placed Files and Copied Text not Appearing in Links Palette

I am working on an annual report.

The report is a booklet. I'm using master text boxes. The report is basically one, long flowing stream of text. Within this there are many articles, divided by headings.

I'm receiving articles for this annual report from many different sources, text within emails, Word documents, etc.

I have the "Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files" checked.

I'm having this issue:
Nothing is appearing in my Links palette.

When I go to File>Place, and place a Word document in as an article within my report, it doesn't appear in the link palette. When I copy text in from a Word document, it doesn't appear in the link palette.

However, when I place the Word document in the annual report within it's own text box, THEN it appears in the links palette.

But I don't want each Word document within it's own text box, I want it to be a part of the other text flow within the report.

Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Can't InDesign retain the link to the document even if the text is placed within a larger body of text flow?