I have several JavaScript buttons that I need to recreate in Lightning, how do I determine if I should create a New Action or a New Button or Link?   I've tried creating a New Action where if a Active Contact box is unchecked that four other check boxes are checked.  This did not work. 

I also tried creating another New Action where I could pre-populate a new record with values for the fields, however, because I am using fields with multi-select picklist values, those fields won't populate according to documentation I found.  I'm not a developer, and just starting the Lightning transition.  I appreciate any advice you could give to handle these two senarios.  Thanks in advance.