diff --git a/R/CST_SaveExp.R b/R/CST_SaveExp.R
index d6e98f384cde4dad9e41d48e88a9d754c609594c..2c363e46b1ae076a3bf50d1b2b3fd0e57f256c7b 100644
--- a/R/CST_SaveExp.R
+++ b/R/CST_SaveExp.R
@@ -28,7 +28,14 @@
 #'  dimension.
 #'@param memb_dim A character string indicating the name of the member dimension.
 #'  By default, it is set to 'member'. It can be NULL if there is no member 
-#'  dimension.  
+#'  dimension. 
+#'@param startdates A vector of dates that will be used for the filenames 
+#'  when saving the data in multiple files. It must be a vector of the same 
+#'  length as the start date dimension of data. It must be a vector of class 
+#'  \code{Dates}, \code{'POSIXct'} or character with lenghts between 1 and 10. 
+#'  If it is NULL, the coordinate corresponding the the start date dimension or 
+#'  the first Date of each time step will be used as the name of the files.
+#'  It is NULL by default.
 #'@param single_file A logical value indicating if all object is saved in a 
 #'  single file (TRUE) or in multiple files (FALSE). When it is FALSE, 
 #'  the array is separated for Datasets, variable and start date. It is FALSE  
@@ -76,7 +83,8 @@
 CST_SaveExp <- function(data, destination = "./", sdate_dim = 'sdate',  
                         ftime_dim = 'time', dat_dim = 'dataset',
                         var_dim = 'var', memb_dim = 'member', 
-                        single_file = FALSE, extra_string = NULL) {
+                        startdates = NULL, single_file = FALSE, 
+                        extra_string = NULL) {
   # Check 's2dv_cube'
   if (!inherits(data, 's2dv_cube')) {
     stop("Parameter 'data' must be of the class 's2dv_cube', ",
@@ -124,13 +132,28 @@ CST_SaveExp <- function(data, destination = "./", sdate_dim = 'sdate',
               "only the first element will be used.")
       sdate_dim <- sdate_dim[1]
     }
+  } else if (length(dim(data$attrs$Dates)) == 1) {
+    sdate_dim <- 'sdate'
+    dim(data$data) <- c(sdate = 1, dim(data$data))
+    data$dims <- dim(data$data)
+    dim(data$attrs$Dates) <- c(sdate = 1, dim(data$attrs$Dates))
+    data$coords[[sdate_dim]] <- data$attrs$Dates[1]
+  }
+  # startdates
+  if (is.null(startdates)) {
+    startdates <- data$coords[[sdate_dim]]
   } else {
-    if (length(dim(data$attrs$Dates)) == 1) {
-      sdate_dim <- 'sdate'
-      dim(data$data) <- c(sdate = 1, dim(data$data))
-      data$dims <- dim(data$data)
-      dim(data$attrs$Dates) <- c(sdate = 1, dim(data$attrs$Dates))
-      data$coords[[sdate_dim]] <- data$attrs$Dates[1]
+    if (!is.character(startdates)) {
+      warning(paste0("Parameter 'startdates' is not a character string, ",
+                     "it will not be used."))
+      startdates <- data$coords[[sdate_dim]]
+    }
+    if (!is.null(sdate_dim)) {
+      if (dim(data$data)[sdate_dim] != length(startdates)) {
+        warning(paste0("Parameter 'startdates' doesn't have the same length ",
+                       "as dimension '", sdate_dim,"', it will not be used."))
+        startdates <- data$coords[[sdate_dim]]
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -141,7 +164,7 @@ CST_SaveExp <- function(data, destination = "./", sdate_dim = 'sdate',
           varname = data$attrs$Variable$varName,
           metadata = data$attrs$Variable$metadata,
           Datasets = data$attrs$Datasets, 
-          startdates = data$coords[[sdate_dim]],
+          startdates = startdates,
           dat_dim = dat_dim, sdate_dim = sdate_dim, 
           ftime_dim = ftime_dim, var_dim = var_dim, 
           memb_dim = memb_dim,
@@ -173,8 +196,12 @@ CST_SaveExp <- function(data, destination = "./", sdate_dim = 'sdate',
 #'  lists for each variable.
 #'@param Datasets A vector of character string indicating the names of the 
 #'  datasets.
-#'@param startdates A vector of dates indicating the initialization date of each 
-#'  simulations.
+#'@param startdates A vector of dates that will be used for the filenames 
+#'  when saving the data in multiple files. It must be a vector of the same 
+#'  length as the start date dimension of data. It must be a vector of class 
+#'  \code{Dates}, \code{'POSIXct'} or character with lenghts between 1 and 10. 
+#'  If it is NULL, the first Date of each time step will be used as the name of 
+#'  the files. It is NULL by default.
 #'@param sdate_dim A character string indicating the name of the start date 
 #'  dimension. By default, it is set to 'sdate'. It can be NULL if there is no
 #'  start date dimension.
@@ -432,9 +459,8 @@ SaveExp <- function(data, destination = "./", Dates = NULL, coords = NULL,
         all(names(dim(Dates)) == c(sdate_dim, ftime_dim))) {
       if (is.null(startdates)) {
         startdates <- Subset(Dates, along = ftime_dim, 1, drop = 'selected')
-      } else if ((!inherits(startdates, "POSIXct") & !inherits(startdates, "Date")) &&
-                 (!is.character(startdates) | (all(nchar(startdates) != 10) &
-                  all(nchar(startdates) != 8) & all(nchar(startdates) != 6)))) {
+      } else if ((!inherits(startdates, "POSIXct") & !inherits(startdates, "Date")) && 
+                 (!is.character(startdates) | (any(nchar(startdates) > 10) | any(nchar(startdates) < 1)))) {
         warning("Parameter 'startdates' should be a character string containing ", 
                 "the start dates in the format 'yyyy-mm-dd', 'yyyymmdd', 'yyyymm', ", 
                 "'POSIXct' or 'Dates' class. Files will be named with Dates instead.")
diff --git a/man/CST_SaveExp.Rd b/man/CST_SaveExp.Rd
index 032f01c4ca3b3ee0b6c46bd0c09ee9bd2652e5bd..f8918eb9aa88ca8fae91b62951a31590378b8f27 100644
--- a/man/CST_SaveExp.Rd
+++ b/man/CST_SaveExp.Rd
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ CST_SaveExp(
   dat_dim = "dataset",
   var_dim = "var",
   memb_dim = "member",
+  startdates = NULL,
   single_file = FALSE,
   extra_string = NULL
 )
@@ -45,6 +46,14 @@ dimension.}
 By default, it is set to 'member'. It can be NULL if there is no member 
 dimension.}
 
+\item{startdates}{A vector of dates that will be used for the filenames 
+when saving the data in multiple files. It must be a vector of the same 
+length as the start date dimension of data. It must be a vector of class 
+\code{Dates}, \code{'POSIXct'} or character with lenghts between 1 and 10. 
+If it is NULL, the coordinate corresponding the the start date dimension or 
+the first Date of each time step will be used as the name of the files.
+It is NULL by default.}
+
 \item{single_file}{A logical value indicating if all object is saved in a 
 single file (TRUE) or in multiple files (FALSE). When it is FALSE, 
 the array is separated for Datasets, variable and start date. It is FALSE  
diff --git a/man/SaveExp.Rd b/man/SaveExp.Rd
index d0418131c288acd2626fb90b3b76c58cbca8a0ec..a9c0ac36d9e65636fcb938c60b9fb88404555bcb 100644
--- a/man/SaveExp.Rd
+++ b/man/SaveExp.Rd
@@ -47,8 +47,12 @@ lists for each variable.}
 \item{Datasets}{A vector of character string indicating the names of the 
 datasets.}
 
-\item{startdates}{A vector of dates indicating the initialization date of each 
-simulations.}
+\item{startdates}{A vector of dates that will be used for the filenames 
+when saving the data in multiple files. It must be a vector of the same 
+length as the start date dimension of data. It must be a vector of class 
+\code{Dates}, \code{'POSIXct'} or character with lenghts between 1 and 10. 
+If it is NULL, the first Date of each time step will be used as the name of 
+the files. It is NULL by default.}
 
 \item{dat_dim}{A character string indicating the name of dataset dimension. 
 By default, it is set to 'dataset'. It can be NULL if there is no dataset  
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-CST_SaveExp.R b/tests/testthat/test-CST_SaveExp.R
index a05c5bd64d8b4d16b0130d8c5ccf06ec0ded4a86..00630d61b2da03e788f5a233fc893105c2af7f19 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-CST_SaveExp.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-CST_SaveExp.R
@@ -94,6 +94,18 @@ test_that("1. Input checks: CST_SaveExp", {
       paste0("Parameter 'sdate_dim' is not found in 'data' dimension.")
     )
   )
+  # # startdates
+  # expect_warning(
+  #   CST_SaveExp(data = cube1, ftime_dim = 'ftime', memb_dim = NULL, 
+  #               dat_dim = NULL, var_dim = NULL, startdates = 1), 
+  #   "Parameter 'startdates' is not a character string, it will not be used."
+  # )
+  # expect_warning(
+  #   CST_SaveExp(data = cube1, ftime_dim = 'ftime', memb_dim = NULL, 
+  #               dat_dim = NULL, var_dim = NULL, startdates = '20100101'), 
+  #   paste0("Parameter 'startdates' doesn't have the same length ",
+  #          "as dimension '", sdate_dim,"', it will not be used.")
+  # )
   # # metadata
   # expect_warning(
   #   CST_SaveExp(data = cube1, ftime_dim = 'ftime', memb_dim = NULL,