So I use Apple (iCloud) to store all my contacts instead of keeping them in Google’s cloud. This is fine, but I tend to use the GMail webapp on my Mac and when I compose an email it doesn’t know any of my contacts.
I can get round this using mail.app, but I don’t want a local copy of my mail database on the laptop. Any suggestions as to how to fix this?
Copy/paste email info from Contacts. Or more quickly invoke a 3rd party app (Alfred, CardHop, LaunchBar) search, then copy/paste.
Thanks. That is what I have been doing. Just wondered if there were any magic solutions or gmail apps.
The few additional keystrokes in Alfred are worth it to me not to give my contact info to Google.
I don’t know of any Mac Gmail clients that have direct access to Apple Contacts, but that would be a neat trick.
Gmail can subscribe to calendars but not contacts. I moved all my contacts and calendars to Google years ago.
The info syncs with my Mac & IOS contacts & calendar apps in seconds. I do have a handful of contacts containing additional data that I prefer to keep in iCloud, so I also created a minimum contact card for these in Google with just name, address, & work phone. Other than that I have no problem keeping my information in Gmail.
The first time I sent an email my name & email address was out there, and now there are copies on the net of every email I have ever sent or received. It’s the same for everyone. I see no use is worrying about things I cannot control 
How about setting up Gmail as an other type account with a POP connection in Accounts, with only SMTP using working credentials? I think that would let you send email from Mail without downloading anything to read. The Alfred workflow is probably the way to go, though.
I think MailPlane is exactly what you’re looking for.
https://mailplaneapp.com/index.html
It’s essentially a single-function browser that accesses gmail.com, with some add-ons – including MacOS Contacts integration. It’s been years since I used it, but I’m pretty sure it has that integration. Free evaluation period, so give it a try.
I mainly use Apple Mail now to access Gmail, and go to the browser when I need the native Gmail interface. That works great for me.
Thanks will take a look